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SQUASHES.        I 


TO  GROW  THEMJ 


PRACTICAL 


ise  on  Squasj)  Culture, 


QIVINQ    FULL  DETAILS  ON    EVEET   POINT,  mCLUDINfl    KEEPIN&  ABD 

o 

MARKETING  THE  CROP, 


BY 


JAMES     J.    H.    GREGORY, 

INTRODUCER     OP    THE     HDBBARD     SQUASH. 
MARBLEHEAD,  MASS. 


NEW-YORK :  <| 

3  •   J  U  D  D     <te     COMPANY, 

245    BROADWAY.  ^ 


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CONTENTS. 


Men  fitted  for  the  Business  of  Gardening- 

The  Amount  of  Capital  Required,  and 

"Working  ij'orce  per  Acre. 

Profits  of  Market  Gardening. 

Location,  Situation,  and  Laying  Out. 

Soils,  Drainage,  and  Preparation. 

Manures,  Implements. 

Uses  and  Management  of  Cold  Frames. 

Formation  and  Management  of  Hot-beds. 

Forcing  Pits  or  Green-houses. 

Seeds  and  Seed  Raising. 

How,  \Vhen,  and  Where  to  Sow  Seedo. 

Transplanting,  Insects. 

Pocking  of  Vegetables  for  Shipping. 

Preservation  of  Vegetables  in  "Winter. 

Vegetables,  their  Varieties  and  Cultivation. 

In  the  last  chapter,  the  most  valuable  kinds  are  described,  and 
the  culture  proper  to  each  is  given  in  detail. 

Sent    post-paid,    price  $I.5O. 
OEA.NGE     JUDD    &    CO.,    245    Broadway,    New-  York 


SQUASHES. 


HOW   TO    GBOW  THEM. 


A  PRACTICAL  TEEATISE  ON  SQUASH  CULTURE,  GIVING  FULL  DETAILS 
ON  EVERY  POINT,  INCLUDING  KEEPING  AND  MARKETING  THE  CROP. 


BY 


JAMES  J.  H.  GREGORY, 

INTBODUCEB    OF    THE    HUBBABD    SQUASH, 
MARBLEHEAD,  MASS. 


NEW-YORK: 

«* 

ORANGE    JUDD    &    COMPANY, 


245  BROADWAY. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1867,  by 
ORANGE  JUDD  &  CO. 

At  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Southern  District  of  New-York. 


LOVE  JOY  &  SON, 

ELECTROTYPERS  AND  STEREOTYPERS. 
15  Vandewater  street  N.  Y. 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  recent  great  increase  in  interest  in  squash  cultiva- 
tion, which  has  been  promoted  by  the  introduction  of  new 
varieties,  has  seemed  to  me  to  demand  a  more  thorough 
and  exhaustive  treatment  of  the  subject  than  is  to  be 
found  in  our  present  standard  works  on  horticulture  or 
agriculture.  I  am  sustained  in  this  position  by  the  great 
number  of  questions  propounded  to  me  annually  in  the 
course  of  an  extensive  correspondence.  To  answer  these 
questions,  and  to  bring  so  delicious  a  vegetable  as  the 
squash  into  a  more  general  and  more  successful  cultiva- 
tion, is  the  object  of  this  treatise.  The  Squash  family  ( Cu- 
curbitacece)  have  their  habitat  in  the  tropics  and  warmer 
portions  of  the  temperate  zones ;  hence  they  require  our 
hottest  seasons  to  develop  them  in  perfection.  With  the 
exception  of  the  Vegetable  Marrow,  the  squash  family  is 
almost  unknown  to  our  English  cousins,  as  likewise  is  true 
of  our  corn  and  beans,  for  though  the  average  temperature 
of  the  year  is  higher  with  them  than  with  us,  yet  the  ex- 
treme hot  weather,  which,  these  vegetables  require,  is 
there  wanting. 

The  introduction  of  the  squash  is  a  matter  of  the  past 
half  century ;  until  within  that  time,  with  the  exception  of 
the  Crookneck,  the  pumpkins,  yellow  and  black,  or  "  nig- 
ger," were  the  only  varieties  cultivated.  Though  the  ap- 
petite for  squash  appears  to  be  in  a  considerable  degree  a 
matter  of  education,  yet  it  is  becoming  more  and  more 
popular  in  the  vicinity  of  the  large  cities  of  the  North, 
where  among  vegetables^  it  now  ranks  next  to  the  potato, 
3 


4  SQUASHES,   HOW   TO    GROW   THEM,    ETC. 

WHAT    IS    A    SQUASH? 

In  many  parts  of  the  South  and  West,  where  the  fall 
and  winter  squashes  are  not  much  cultivated,  the  term 
"Pumpkin"  is  used  for  all  the  running  varieties  of  the 
squash  or  pumpkin  family,  with  the  exception  of  the 
"  Cushaw  "  class,  which  includes  varieties  that  are  closely 
allied  to  the  Crookneck.  To  clearly  define  what  is  meant  by 
the  word  squash  in  contradistinction  from  the  word  pump- 
kin, as  used  among  market-men,  is  no  very  easy  matter,  as  all 
the  varieties,  with  the  exception  of  the  Crooknecks,  easily 
intercross  with  each  other,  and  in  the  recently  introduced 
Yokohama,  I  have  reason  to  believe  we  have  found  the 
connecting  link  between  the  Crooknecks  and  other  squashes, 
thus  destroying  the  reputation  which  the  Crooknecks  had 
hitherto  enjoyed  of  being  the  squashes  of  the  squash  fam- 
ily. Grouping  all  the  running  varieties  together,  we  ex- 
press the  marketman's  idea  of  a  squash,  as  distinguished 
from  a  pumpkin,  when  we  say  that  all  varieties  having 
soft  or  fleshy  stems,  either  with  or  without  a  shell,  and  all 
varieties  having  a  hard,  woody  stem,  and  without  a  shell, 
are  squashes ;  while  all  having  a  hard  stem  and  a  shell 
the  flesh  of  which  is  not  bitter,  are  pumpkins ;  and  all  of 
this  latter  class,  the  flesh  of  which  contains  a  bitter  prin- 
ciple, are  gourds.  In  a  more  general  classification,  all  va- 
rieties having  a  hard  shell,  are  gourds,  and  those  without 
a  shell,  are  squashes.  I  had  an  amusing  instance  under  this 
system  of  classification  in  a  lot  of  seed,  ordered  from  France 
as  "  gourds ;"  on  examining  them,  I  found  that  several  of 
the  kinds  were  varieties  of  our  table  squashes.  Making  a 
separate  classification  of  the  summer  varieties,  I  define 
such  to  be  squashes,  in  contradistinction  from  gourds,  as 
are  eatable  at  any  period  of  their  growth.  It  will  be  seen 
that  the  distinctions  I  make  are  more  commercial  than 
strictly  scientific.  What  I  aim  at,  is,  to  so  define  squashes, 
pumpkins,  and  gourds,  that  experienced  market-men,  seed- 


SQUASHES,  HOW  TO  GKOW  THEM,  ETC.         5 

men,  and  new  beginners,  may  meet  on  common  ground, 
and  clearly  understand  each  other  when  using  these  terms. 
In  passing,  I  remark,  that  gourds  are  far  more  prolific 
than  either  squashes  or  pumpkins ;  in  some  instances  more 
than  two  score  having  been  grown  on  a  single  vine. 

SELECTING    THE    SOIL. 

All  of  the  family  thrive  best,  other  things  equal,  in  a 
warm  soil,  which  is  a  soil  through  which  the  roots  can 
easily  find  .their  way.  The  Hubbard  squash  appears  to 
attain  to  its  highest  development  in  regard  to  both  yield 
and  quality  in  a  soil,  that,  in  addition  to  being  warm,  is 
also  a  strong  soil.  I  would  not  advise  planting  in  a  clay 
soil,  unless  it  be  possible  by  thorough  draining  and  high 
manuring,  (for  this  purpose,  long  manure  is  better  than 
fermented,)  to  make  such  soil  light  and  porous.  A  drained 
meadow  will  often  yield  enormous  squashes,  if  well  ma- 
nured, but  they  are  apt  to  be  very  porous  in  their  structure, 
of  poor  quality,  and  poor  keepers. 

Some  years  since  I  planted  a  piece  of  rich,  black 
meadow  to  Hubbards,  after  manuring  liberally  in  the  hills. 
The  result  was  a  tremendous  growth  of  vine,  some  of 
the  leaves  measuring  twenty  inches  in  diameter,  while  the 
ends  of  the  runners,  in  their  great  vigor,  lifted  themselves 
by  thousands  two  and  three  feet  above  the  surface,  and 
with  their  blunt,  arched  extremities,  looked  like  a  myriad 
of  huge-winged  serpents  running  a  race.  The  squashes 
were  of  a  light  green  color,  very  large  and  showy,  but, 
when  gathered,  proved  light  in  the  handling,  very  porous 
in  structure,  cutting  like  punk,  were  very  poor  keepers, 
and  coarse  and  watery  in  quality.  Though  such  meadows 
are  thoroughly  underdrained,  the  squashes  grown  on  them 
are  light  in  proportion  to  their  size,  (which  always  insures 
poor  quality  and  poor  keeping,)  unless  the  meadows  have 
had  abundance  of  sand  and  loam  worked  into  them,  thus 


6  SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW   THEM,    ETC. 

adding  the  proper  proportion  of  silica  to  the  vegetable 
humus.  Some  years  ago,  when  the  Marrow  squash  was  a 
novelty,  bringing  about  $4.00  a  hundred  pounds,  one  of 
my  townsmen  raised  some  acres  on  a  piece  of  drained 
meadow.  Only  a  portion  of  the  meadow  had  received  a 
good  dressing  of  sand ;  here  the  squashes  were  of  about 
the  ordinary  size,  while  on  the  remainder  they  grew  "  as 
big  as  barrels."  He  traded  a  part  of  the  crop  with  a 
peddler  for  a  lot  of  swine.  When  the  peddler  called  for  the 
squashes,  agreeable  to  instructions,  the  father  being  absent 
from  town,  his  son  showed  him  the  smaller  sized  lot,  say- 
ing that  he  had  received  directions  to  deliver  them,  as 
they  were  the  best  of  the  crop.  But  the  peddler  declared 
that,  as  he  had  supplied  good  pigs,  he  was  entitled  to  good 
squashes,  and  would  be  put  off  with  no  trash.  He  there- 
fore loaded  his  wagons  with  the  "  big  as  a  barrel "  lot,  and 
left  for  home.  Before  many  days  a  friend  called,  and, 
with  a  laugh,  asked  if  he  had  heard  of  the  result  of  the 
squash  investment.  "  There  was'nt  enough  substance  in 
them  to  hold  together  until  he  got  home ;  they  were  car- 
ried to  market  in  a  few  days,  and  two  tons  out  of  five 
were  rotten."  If  the  soil  be  wet  and  cold,  the  growth  of 
the  vine  is  much  retarded,  and  not  only  is  the  crop  much 
lessened  in  size  and  weight,  but  at  times  this  singular  re- 
sult is  seen — the  squash  loses  its  normal  form.  I  have 
seen  a  crop  of  Hubbards  grown  under  such  circumstances, 
all  of  which  were  nearly  flat  at  each  end,  instead  of  hav- 
ing the  elongations  that  belong  to  the  normal  form. 

When  two  soils  of  equal  natural  strength,  but  one  of 
them  being  more  gravelly  in  its  structure,  are  heavily  and 
equally  manured,  I  have  noticed,  in  several  instances,  that 
the  more  gravelly  piece  will  give  more  squashes  and  less 
vine  than  the  others. 

Unlike  some  varieties  of  melons  and  cucumbers,  squashes 
will  do  finely  on  freshly  broken  sod,  which  has  the  ad- 
vantage (a  great  one  in  many  localities)  of  being  less  in- 


SQUASHES,   HOW  TO    GROW   THEM,   ETC.  7 

fested  with  bugs,  than  old  tillage  soil.  The  practice  oi 
digging  holes  a  foot  or  two  in  diameter  in  patches  of  turf 
in  waste  places,  around  hedges,  or  in  corners  of  fields, 
which,  after  filling  with  manure,  are  planted  to  squashes,  is 
but  a  waste  of  time ;  the  result  is,  a  growth  of  vine  of  a 
few  feet  in  length,  the  setting  of  squashes,  and  then  both 
squash  and  vine  become  checked  in  their  growth,  as  the 
roots  of  the  vine  make  vain  efforts  to  penetrate  a  dense 
mass  of  hungry  grass  roots  in  search  of  food,  the  leaves 
gradually  turn  yellow,  and  before  you  know  it,  have 
entirely  disappeared.  By  pulling  on  a  dead  vine,  you 
drag  out  a  half  grown  squash  hidden  among  the  grass. 

If  the  sod  abounds  in  the  pest  known  by  various  names, 
as  witch,  twitch,  or  quack  grass,  there  is  some  danger  that 
the  grass  will  overrun  the  vines.  If  the  grass  has  not 
been  quite  thoroughly  torn  up  by  the  cultivator  before 
the  vines  begin  to  run,  better  plow  up  at  once,  as  the  crop 
will  be  nearly  a  failure.  Hoeing  up  and  hand  pulling  the 
grass  will  practically  amount  to  nothing  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, as  I  once  learned  to  my  sorrow.  If  the  sod 
is  not  very  badly  run  to  twitch,  there  is  but  little  danger, 
provided  the  cultivator  is  faithfully  used  from  the  time 
the  vines  appear  above  ground  until  the  runners  begin 
to  push. 

THE    MANURE. 

The  squash  vine  is  a  rank  feeder.  Night  soil,  barn  ma- 
nure, wood  ashes,  guano,  muscle  mud,  hen  manure,  super- 
phosphate of  lime,  pig  manure,  sheep  manure,  fish  guano, 
fish  waste — either  of  these  alone,  or  in  compost,  is  greedily 
devoured  by  this  miscellaneous  feeder  The  great  error 
in  the  cultivating  of  the  squash  is  to  starve  it.  By  many 
cultivators,  when  every  other  crop  has  h?d  its  share,  and 
the  manure  heap  has  been  used  up,  a  piece  of  sod  is  broken 
for  the  squash  patch,  about  the  only  food  depended  OR 


8  SQUASHES,    HOW  TO   GEOW  THEM,   ETC. 

for  the  crop  being  what  it  can  gather  from  the  decay  of 
the  fresh  turned  sod.  Under  such  treatment,  the  crop  is 
small,  the  squashes  small,  and  the  general  result  unsatis- 
factory. Another  error  of  the  opposite  extreme  is  one 
often  committed  by  market  gardeners,  who  have  learned 
that  no  paying  crop  can  be  grown  without  liberal  feeding 
— who  give  all  the  food  necessary,  but  do  not  allow  suf- 
ficient room  for  the  extra  growth  of  vines  under  such  cul- 
ture. Of  this  latter  error  I  propose  to  treat  under  the 
head  of  "  Planting  the  Seed." 

Night  soil  should  be  used,  mixed  with  muck  and  other 
manures,  in  the  form  of  a  compost.  It  may,  however,  be 
applied  fresh,  directly  to  the  hill,  if  sufficient  care  is  taken 
to  mix  it  thoroughly  with  the  soil.  Some  years  ago,  I 
broke  up  a  piece  of  land  in  the  spring  of  the  year  for 
squashes,  and  the  location  being  difficult  of  access,  I  used 
night  soil  from  a  vault  on  the  premises,  pouring  about  two 
bushels  into  each  hill.  After  we  had  finished  manuring,  I 
sent  my  hired  man,  stout  Jim  Lane,  around  with  his  hoe 
to  mix  it  thoroughly  with  the  soil  in  the  hills.  When 
Jim  came  back,  saying  the  thing  had  been  thoroughly 
done,  I  send  him  around  a  second  time,  to  give  it  another 
mixing  up,  and,  on  his  return,  sent  him  around  the  third 
time,  though  the  old  fellow  assured  me  that  it  couldn't  be 
improved  on,  and  I  had  no  doubt  he  had  done  his  work 
well  each  time,  but,  with  two  bushels  of  fresh  night  soil 
in  each,  I  knew  that  all  the  danger  lay  in  one  direction. 
The  result  was,  the  vines  came  up  a  rich,  dark-green,  and 
took  right  hold  of  their  food. 

With  the  exception  of  barn  manure,  it  is  necessary  that 
each  of  the  manures  mentioned  above  should  be  well 
mixed  in  the  soil  when  used  in  the  hill.  When  wood 
ashes  are  used,  they  should  not  be  mixed  with  other  manure, 
until  just  as  it  is  applied,  as  this  would  injure  the  value  of 
the  manure,  by  setting  free  the  ammonia.  When  I  have 
used  ashes  in  connection  with  Peruvian  guano,  I  have 


SQUASHES,    HOW    TO    GKOW   THEM,    ETC. 

been  in  the  habit  of  putting  layer  with  layer  in  a  wheel- 
barrow, hurrying  it  to  the  hills,  and  then  covering  it  im- 
mediately with  soil.  Even  with  all  possible  hurrying  of 
matters,  the  strong,  pungent  smell  of  the  escaping  am- 
monia could  be  readily  detected. 

Wood  ashes,  mixed  with  fresh  night  soil  in  the  hill 
is  considerably  worse  than  nothing.  Some  years  ago, 
aiming  to  grow  some  extra  large  specimens,  I  selected  a 
favorable  location,  opened  several  large  hills,  and  poured 
into  each  about  a  couple  of  bushels  of  night  soil.  Into 
this  I  stirred  a  liberal  quantity  of  wood  ashes,  acting  on 
the  theory  that  its  alkaline  properties  would  serve  as  a 
corrective  of  the  rank  crudeness  of  the  night  soil.  I  pull- 
ed the  earth  over  the  hills,  and  planted  my  seed.  The 
seed  vegetated,  but  the  young  plants  soon  came  to  a  stand 
still.  I  applied  a  little  fresh  soil  to  the  roots,  thinking  the 
manure  below  might  be  too  strong  for  the  young  rootlets 
to  absorb.  Still,  there  was  no  growth ;  soon  the  leaves 
turned  yellow,  and  the  plants  died.  I  opened  one  hill  to 
find  the  cause,  and  there  I  found  cause  enough  in  the 
presence  of  a  mass  having  about  the  size  and  appearance 
of  an  ordinary  grindstone ;  the  ashes  and  night  soil  in 
combination  had  made  a  hard  cement,  and  the  entire  con- 
tents of  each  hill  could  be  rolled  out  in  one  cake. 

HOW   MUCH    MANURE? 

Those  who,  under  the  stimulus  of  a  city  market,  follow 
market  gardening,  soon  learn  one  truth  that  may  be  set 
down  as  an  axiom  for  successful  gardening,  viz. :  that 
other  things  equal,  it  is  the  last  cord  of  manure  that  gives 
the  profits.  There  is  but  very  little  danger  of  giving  too 
much  manure  to  your  squash  ground,  provided  the  hills 
are  made  at  a  proper  distance  apart,  and  the  vines  are  not 
too  numerous. 

No  prudent  man  will  plant  squashes  with  less  than  four 
1* 


10  SQUASHES,    HOW   1O    GEOW   THEM,    ETC. 

cords  of  barn  manure,  or  its  equivalent,  to  the  acre ; 
is  the  minimum — when  squashes  are  raised  as  a  profitable 
crop,  from  six  to  twenty  cords  of  good  manure  per  acre 
are  used. 

Twenty  cords  to  the  acre  will,  I  doubt  not,  sound  like 
a  large  story  to  many  readers,  and  it  is  a  large  quantity, 
even  for  the  high  culture  required  for  successful  market 
gardening,  but  I  have  seen  that  quantity  applied,  and 
once,  in  my  own  practice,  applied  thirty-five  cords  to  a 
little  over  two  acres  of  squasli  land,  where  the  soil  had 
been  over-cropped,  (or  rather  under-fed,)  for  many  years 
before  I  came  into  possession  of  it.  Let  us  look  a  moment 
into  that  axiom — "the  profits  come  out  of  the  last  cord 
of  manure."  With  four  cords  of  good  barn  manure  to 
the  acre,  on  good  soil,  the  average  yield  would  be  about 
four  tons  of  Hubbard  squashes ;  with  six  cords  of  manure, 
the  average  yield  would  be  about  six  tons ;  with  eight 
cords,  the  yield  would  be  from  seven  to  eight  tons.  These 
are  real  results,  that  I  have  had  in  my  own  experience. 
Here  it  will  be  seen  that  we  gain  about  a  ton  of 
squashes  with  each  extra  cord  of  manure ;  in  other  words, 
by  investing  eight  or  ten  dollars,  we  treble  or  quadruple 
our  money  in  six  month's  time — quite  a  profitable  bank 
of  deposit  is  the  manure  heap !  Not  only  is  the  crop 
heavier,  but  the  squashes  are  larger,  and,  therefore,  fai 
more  marketable  and,  usually,  at  a  higher  figure,  often 
readily  bringing  $5  or  $10  a  ton  advance  in  the  market. 
Nor  is  this  all;  the  virtues  of  the  manure  are  not  ex- 
hausted the  first  season ;  but  the  ground  is  left  in  higher 
condition  for  the  crops  of  the  next  season.  Again,  let  it 
be  noted  that  the  cost  of  cultivation  of  a  poor  crop  is  just 
as  great  as  the  cultivation  of  a  large  one,  while  the  promise 
of  a  large  crop  is  a  great  cheer  amid  the  labor  of  caring 
for  it.  The  strongest  argument  for  the  liberal  manur- 
ing of  this  and  all  other  crops  is,  that  a  certain  portion 
of  the  crop  but  pays  for  the  cost  of  producing  it,  and 


SQUASHES,    HOW   TO   GROW  THEM,   ETC.  11 

that  the  profits  can  only  come  after  the  cost  of  production 
is  paid. 

The  cost  of  producing  an  acre  of  squashes,  independent 
of  the  cost  of  the  manure,  will  be : 

Plowing $600 

Distributing  Manure 5.00 

Cultivating  in  Manure 3.00 

Seed 400 

Mixing  Manure  in  Hills 2.00 

Planting  Seed 1.00 

Three  Cultivatings  in  course  of  season 5.25 

Two  Hoeings 3.00 

Lime  and  Liming 1.50 

Hand-weeding  of  large,   scattered   Weeds,   after   Runners  have 

started  off 1.00 

Gathering  of  Crop  into  Heaps  ready  for  Carting 2.00 

Interest  on  Land 9.00 

Wear  and  Tear,  and  Incidentals 2.00 

Total,  exclusive  of  Manure $44.75 

Add  cost  of  four  Cords  of  Manure,  at  $8.00,  landed  in  Field 32.00 

Cost  of  Guano,  or  some  equivalent,  to  mix  in  Hills 5.00 


Total  cost  of  Crop  when  four  Cords  of  Manure  are  used  per  Acre.  .$8.1.75 

Now,  as  we  stated  above,  the  average  yield  of  Hubbard 
squashes,  under  such  manuring,  would  be  about  four  tons. 
The  average  price  of  Hubbard  squashes  in  the  Boston 
markets,  for  the  past  four  years,  of  such  a  size  as  four 
cords  of  manure  to  the  acre  would  produce,  has  been  about 
$25  per  ton.  At  this  rate,  the  returns  (not  deducting 
the  cost  of  marketing)  per  acre  would  be  $100,  from  which 
deducting  the  cost  of  production,  $81.75,  we  have  $18.25 
as  the  profits  on  the  acre. 

If,  now,  by  adding  two  cords  more  of  manure,  or  $16.00, 
to  the  cost  of  production,  we  obtain  two  tons  more 
squashes,  then  the  income  is  increased  $50,  (this  supposes 
that  we  get  but  the  same  price  per  ton,  but,  in  fact,  I  get 
from  $5  to  $10  more  per  ton  for  such  squashes,)  and  we 
have  a  profit  of  $52.25.  The  two  cords  of  manure  extra 
have  nearly  trebled  the  profits ;  in  other  words,  by  ad- 


12  SQUASHES,    HOW  TO   GKOW  THEM,   ETC. 

t 

ding  about  one-six  to  the  cost  of  production,  we  treble 
the  profits.  Or,  again,  to  give  a  commercial  look  to  the 
matter,  for  every  dollar  invested  in  manure  in  May,  in 
October,  or  five  months,  we  receive  a  return  of  three  dol- 
lars and  an  eighth.  The  returns  have  proved  in  the  same 
proportion  up  to  eight  cords,  and  at  times  up  to  ten  cords, 
to  the  acre.  These  statements  are  not  visionary ;  they 
are  drawn  directly  from  practical  experience,  and  can  be 
corroborated  by  any  farmer  who  has  tried  liberal  manur- 
ing.  Catch  a  farmer  of  that  class  going  backwards,  and 
putting  less  and  less  manure  on  his  grounds,  what  a 
phenomenon  he  would  be  !  No  ;  the  progress  of  all  enter- 
prising farmers  is  in  one  direction.  By  extra  manuring  the 
probabilities  of  receiving  paying  returns,  are  far  greater  in 
agricultural  than  in  commercial  life,  as  figures  will  readily 
show,  though  the  popular  belief  is  directly  the  contrary. 

PREPARING   AND   APPLYING   THE    MANURE. 

As  a  general  rule  in  farming,  the  value  of  manures  that 
are  good  for  any  crop,  is  increased  by  mixing  them  to- 
gether, making  what  is  called  a  compost.  Ashes  and 
common  lime  are  an  exception  to  this  rule ;  each  of  them 
sets  free  the  ammonia,  (the  most  valuable  portion  of  any 
manure,)  and,  being  volatile,  it  esccapes  into  the  atmos- 
phere. In  preparing  a  compost  for  squashes,  the  bottom 
of  the  heap  may  be  made  of  muck  that  has  been  acted  up- 
on by  the  frost,  sun,  and  rain  of  a  year,  if  practicable ;  if 
this  can  not  be  done,  let  it  at  least  be  got  out  the  fall 
previous,  that  it  may  be  disintegrated,  and,  in  a  measure, 
sweetened  by  the  winter's  frost.  In  the  course  of  the 
winter,  manure  from  the  barn-yard  may  be  hauled  upon  it. 
If  this  has  been  well  worked  by  hogs,  the  better.  Toward 
spring,  if  night-soil  can  be  poured  into  it,  the  richness  of 
the  heap  will  be  much  increased.  Sharp  sand  can  now  be 
thrown  over  the  heap,  and  about  as  soon  as  frost  breaks 


SQUASHES,    HOW    TO    GROW   THEM,    ETC.  13 

| 

ground,  the  entire  mass  should  be  thrown  over  with  forks, 
and  thoroughly  commingled,'  all  coarse  lumps  broken 
up,  and  all  frozen  lumps  brought  to  the  outside  of  the 
pile.  As  soon  as  the  mass  begins  to  heat,  the  process 
should  be  repeated  once  or  twice,  until  it  is  made  as 
fine  and  as  thoroughly  mixed  together,  as  time  will  allow. 
The  sand  will  be  found  to  be  excellent  to  keep  the  manure 
finely  divided  and  light,  or  to  "  cut "  it,  as  farmers  say. 

In  applying  the  manure  for  this  or  other  crops,  many 
farmers  use  all  the  manure  in  the  hill ;  some,  because  hav- 
ing but  little  to  use,  they  wish  to  get  it  as  near  the  plants 
as  possible,  while  others  seem  to  hold  the  theory,  that  a 
circle  of  three  or  four  feet  in  diameter  is  a  sufficient  area 
for  the  roots  of  squash  vines  to  travel  over  in  search  of 
food.  Where  all  the  manure  is  used  in  the  hill,  the  squash 
vines  push  over  the  ground  rapidly,  until  just  after  the 
setting  of  the  squashes,  when  they  lose  vigor,  the  squashes 
develop  but  slowly,  and  in  the  end  there  is  a  small  crop  of 
undersized  squashes,  for  the  roots,  having  meanwhile 
pushed  beyond  the  hills,  can  not  find  food  sufiicient  to 
sustain  the  growth  of  the  vines.  The  roots  of  squash 
vines  increase  faster  than  is  generally  supposed.  There 
is  a  theory  that  the  roots  grow  to  the  same  length  as 
the  vines,  keeping  pace  with  them  in  their  growth. 
Whether  the  roots  grow  as  long,  or  longer,  than  the  vines, 
I  can  not  say,  but  when  the  runner  of  a  vine  had  pushed 
out  but  eighteen  inches,  I  found  the  root  over  three  feet 
in  length,  thus  proving  that  at  one  period  of  growth,  the 
root  increases  faster  than  the  vine.  This  spreading  of  the 
roots  through  the  soil  is  one  of  the  marvels  of  vegetable 
life.  I  remember  once  lifting  a  small  pile  of  litter  that 
was  about  six  inches  deep;  some  dozen  feet  distant  from 
a  squash  hill,  when  I  saw  what  appeared  to  be  a  fine 
mist  at  the  surface  of  the  ground,  but  upon  examination 
myriads  of  fine  rootlets  were  seen,  that  were  doubtless 
feeding  on  the  decaying  vegetable  matter.  Any  person 


14  SQTfASHES,    HOW    TO    GROW    THEM,    ETC. 

who  will  examine  a  squash  vine  of  the  running  sorts,  after 
it  has  set  its  fruit,  will  find  roots  pushed  down  into  the 
earth  at  each  joint ;  and  though  these  may  be  in  part  de- 
signed by  the  Creator  to  steady  the  vine,  there  can  be  but 
little  doubt  but  that  they  are  designed  also  to  feed  the 
long  runners.  And  this  is  proved  by  the  fact,  that  if  the 
connection  of  the  vine  with  the  main  root  be  severed, 
while  these  subordinate  roots  remain  uninjured,  it  will  still 
maintain  a  degree  of  vigor.  Such  facts  as  these  sweep 
all  theories  of  hill-manuring  by  the  board,  for  if  the  roots 
travel  beyond  the  hill  in  search  of  food,  there  a  wise  cul- 
tivator will  put  food  for  them.  My  usual  practice  is  this : 
to  distribute  all  the  manure  from  my  compost  heap  over 
the  field,  after  the  first  plowing,  and  before  cultivating  or 
harrowing.  This  is  thoroughly  worked  under  (and  but 
just  under),  by  a  small  one-horse  plow,  driven  at  right 
angles  with  the  furrows,  after  which  I  follow  with  the  culti- 
vator, aiming  to  have  everything  as  thoroughly  fined  up  as 
possible.  If  time  presses,  I  dispense  with  the  small  plow,  and 
depend  wholly  on  the  cultivator  and  harrow  to  get  my  ma- 
nure under  the  surface.  After  the  manure  is  well  worked 
under,  the  hills  or  drills  are  marked  off  by  dragging  a  chain 
over  the  surface,  the  first  line  being  made  straight  by  set- 
ting up  two  poles  ahead,  and  keeping  them  in  line  while 
walking;  afterward  the  lines  can  be  kept  conveniently 
straight  by  carrying  a  pole  of  the  same  length  as  the  dis- 
tance desired  between  the  hills,  and  using  it  occasionally 
as  a  guide.  After  the  field  is  thus  chained  out  in  one 
direction,  it  is  crossed  in  the  opposite  direction.  The  hills 
are  marked  out  by  the  crossing  of  the  lines  made  by  the 
chain.  If  the  surface  is  free  from  large  rocks,  the  hills  can 
be  marked  out  by  running  two  sets  of  furrows,  the  hills 
being  made  where  they  cross  each  other  at  right  angles. 

In  the  hills  I  work  in  my  manure,  avoiding  all  stable 
dung,  or  any  animal  manure,  as  this  is  liable  to  contain 
seed,  and  to  one  who  raises  squashes  for  seed  purposes. 


SQUASHES,   HOW  TO   GKOW   THEM,   ETC.  15 

this  is  quite  a  serious  objection,  for,  in  fact,  I  have  found 
it  almost  impossible  to  keep  squashes  pure,  where  animal 
manure  is  used  in  the  hill.  I  manure  in  the  hill,  or  drill, 
with  the  most  highly  concentrated  manures  to  be  pro- 
cured, such  as  guano,  superphosphate  of  lime,  or  fish  gu- 
ano. The  reason  for  using  highly  stimulating  manure  in 
the  hill  is,  to  give  the  plants  a  quick  start  when  young, 
that  they  may  grow  beyond  injury  from  the  ravages  of 
the  striped  bug. 

There  is  danger  in  using  highly  concentrated  manures  in 
the  hill,  that  the  roots  of  the  young  plants  be  destroyed 
— "  burned  "  is  the  farmer's  phrase ;  to  prevent  this,  they 
should  be  most  thoroughly  stirred  in  with  the  soil.  My 
practice  is,  to  take  such  manure  in  a  wooden  bucket,  and 
passing  from  hill  to  hill,  scatter,  if  phosphates,  as  much  as 
I  can  take  up  in  a  half  closed  hand ;  if  Peruvian  guano, 
about  half  as  much,  over  a  circle  of  about  two  feet  in  di- 
ameter. A  man  follows  immediately  after  with  a  six-tined 
fork;  he  is  directed  to  turn  it  just  under  the  surface,  and 
then  draw  his  fork  across  the  hill  three  times,  and  again 
three  times  at  right  angles  with  the  first  direction,  ending 
with  planting  the  fork  in  the  middle  of  the  hill,  and  giving 
it  a  twist  around.  I  am  thus  particular  in  my  directions, 
because  day  laborers  seldom  realize  the  corrosive  effects 
of  these  highly  concentrated  fertilizers.  After  my  man, 
a  boy  follows  to  plant  the  seed  ;  he  sweeps  a  circle  with 
his  finger  around  each  hill,  as  he  finishes  planting. 

After  the  vines  have  got  so  far  along  as  to  show  their 
runners,  I  top  dress  the  surface  with  hen  manure,  or  some 
of  the  special  manures  above  mentioned,  and  immediately 
follow  with  the  cultivator. 

It  will  be  perceived  that  my  system  of  manuring  is 
based  upon  the  theory  that  vines  prefer  their  food  near 
the  surface  of  the  ground.  I  draw  this  inference  from  the 
fact,  that  vines  are  great  lovers  of  heat,  being  quite  sen- 
sitive to  changes  of  temperature,  and  also  from  tracing 


16  SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW   THEM,    ETC. 

roots,  and  finding  under  the  old  system  of  deep  manuring, 
that  they  would,  at  first  starting,  run  but  an  inch  or  two 
below  the  surface  of  the  earth,  when  they  would  spread 
out  horizontally,  and  stretch  on  for  some  feet  at  a  very 
uniform  distance  below  the  surface.  Again,  I  find  my 
crops  very  satisfactory  under  this  system  of  manuring, 
and  for  the  past  four  years  have  cultivated  all  my  crop 
(four  to  seven  acres  annually),  on  this  plan.  My  friends 
will  note  that  I  reduce  my  manure  very  fine,  and  mix  it 
very  thoroughly  with  the  soil.  My  soil  is  a  strong  loam. 

PREPARING    THE    HILLS. 

The  system  almost  universally  advised  and  pursued  in 
preparing  the  hills  for  planting,  is  to  throw  out  the  earth 
from  within  a  circle  of  from  two  and  a  half  to  four  feet  in 
diameter,  and  from  six  inches  to  a  foot  in  depth,  oftentimes 
quarrying  out  rocks  and  digging  into  the  hard-pan  to  get 
the  standard  depth.  Then  fill  in  with  manure,  and  cover  this~ 
with  earth,  raising  a  low  mound  in  the  form  of  a  trun- 
cated cone  about  six  inches '  above  the  surface.  On  this 
mound  the  seed  are  planted.  Where  the  land  is  freshly 
turned  sod,  the  hills  are  usually  made  by  cutting  a  hole 
of  the  usual  diameter  in  the  sod  with  a  sharp  spade  or 
axe.  In  my  own  practice,  I  have  given  up  this  method  for 
years.  The  plan  of  excavating  a  hole,  and  putting  in  it 
all,  or  about  all,  the  manure  for  the  crop,  appears  to 
be  founded  on  the  theory  that  the  roots  will  confine  them- 
selves to  the  area — an  idea  entirely  erroneous,  as  we  have 
already  shown.  Quarrying  into  the  hard-pan  and  putting 
manure  down  to  such  cold  depths,  is  inviting  the  vine  to 
violate  its  instinctive  love  of  heat.  Again,  this  system 
involves  a  great  deal  of  labor,  particularly  when  sod  land 
is  planted,  and  on  these  latter  the  pieces  of  sod  taken  out 
of  the  hills  remain  nuisances  over  the  surface  of  the  field, 
either  clogging  the  cultivator,  or  being  knocked  against 


SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GEOW  THEM,    ETC.  17 

the  young  vines.  Let  any  farmer  try  the  plan  of  prepar- 
ing his  hills  as  I  have  detailed  above,  and  I  will  guaran- 
tee that  he  will  not  again  return  to  the  present  system. 
If  barn  manure  is  to  be  used  in  the  hills,  let  them  be 
made  saucer  shape,  broad  and  shallow.  In  preparing 
freshly  broken  sod,  I  find  Share's  harrow  an  excellent 
implement,  as  it  will  pare  down  the  sod  to  an  inch  in 
thickness,  and  make  the  soil  as  easy  to  be  worked  as  old 
ground. 

HOW  FAR  APART  SHOULD  WE  HAVE  THE  HILLS,  AND 
HOW  MANY  VINES  SHALL  WE  LEAVE  IN  THE  HILL? 

The  great  error  among  farmers  is  to  make  these  hills 
too  near  together,  and  leave  too  many  vines  in  each  hill. 
A  very  common  distance  for  Marrow  squashes  is  six  feet 
apart  each  wa}r,  three  or  four  vines  being  left  in  each  hill. 

A  little  figuring  will  show  the  bad  policy  of  the  prac- 
tice. When  a  Marrow  squash  vine  grows  alone — and  it 
oftentimes  happens  that  one  comes  up  among  other  crops 
on  the  farm — it  will  mature  as  many  as  three  squashes,  and 
at  times  half  a  dozen  or  more.  Squashes  so  grown  are 
almost  always  fine  types  of  the  particular  variety.  JSTow, 
on  the  contrary,  when  the  hills  are  six  feet  apart,  with 
three  or  four  vines  to  a  hill,  the  vines  will  not  average 
one  squash  to  each.  I  have  been  amused  to  receive  the 
estimates  of  farmers  of  the  number  of  squashes  to  the 
vine  on  the  heaviest  crop  of  Marrows  they  ever  saw.  As 
often  as  not  the  reply  would  be  "three  to  the  vine." 
Now  an  acre  of  ground  planted  6x6  will  have  about 
1200  hills  to  the  acre ;  four  vines  to  the  hill  would  be 
4800  vines  to  the  acre.  The  present  variety  of  Autumnal 
Marrow  squashes  as  now  grown,  will  average  above  seven 
pounds  to  the  squash ;  if  the  vines  produced  on  an  aver- 
age one  squash  apiece,  we  should  then  have  33,600  Ibs.,  or 
over  seventeen  tons  to  the  acre !  Whereas  the  largest  crop 
on  record,  as  far  as  I  am  aware,  of  this  variety  of  Marrow 
is  less  than  eleven  tons  to  the  acre.  From  such  figures 


18        SQUASHES,  HOW  TO  GROW  THEM,  ETC. 

the  conclusion  stands  out  with  emphasis,  that  a  system 
that,  taking  the  average  of  crops,  does  not  give  over  one 
squash  to  two  vines,  is  unnatural,  unfarmer-like,  and  un 
profitable. 

The  shortest  distance,  where  the  hill  system  of  planting 
is  pursued,  should  not  be  less  than  8  feet  each  way  for 
Boston  Marrow  squash  and  other  running  varieties, 
with  the  exception  of  the  Hubbard,  Turban,  and  Yoko- 
hama, which  are  ranker  growers,  and  should  not  be 
planted  nearer  than  nine  or  ten  feet  each  way.  The  hills 
for  the  Mammoth  varieties  should  be  twelve  or  more  feet 
apart  each  way.  At  these  distances  apart,  two  plants  in 
each  hill,  (the  vines  being  thinned  down  to  that  number 
when  the  runners  begin  to  start),  will  be  found  sufficient 
to  well  cover  the  ground.  Were  it  not  for  danger  from 
the  borer,  I  would  never  leave  more  than  one  vine  to  a 
hill, — putting  the  hills  in  each  case  proportionally  nearer. 
One  of  the  finest  crops  of  Turban  squashes  I  ever  raised, 
a  crop  that  took  the  county  premium  for  yield  that  year, 
was  raised  with  but  one  vine  to  the  hill,  and  the  crop  that 
took  our  county  premium  the  year  previous  was  grown 
with  two  vines  to  the  hill.  This  brings  us  to  the  discus- 
sion of  the  Drill  versus  Hill  system  of  planting.  On  the 
supposition  that  the  great  error  in  growing  squashes  has 
been  to  crowd  the  roots  too  much  together  below  ground, 
while  the  vines  were  crowded  too  much  together  above 
ground,  I  have  advocated,  and  to  some  extent  practised, 
the  Drill  system  of  planting — having  each  vine  entirely 
by  itself,  and  distributing  them  evenly  over  the  ground. 
Assuming  that  10  x  10  or  100  square  feet  is  sufficient  room 
for  the  plant,  on  the  Drill  system,  I  allow  7x7  or  about 
50  feet  for  one  plant.  In  planting  on  this  system,  the  field 
is  marked  out  as  if  for  hills,  the  lines  crossing  each  other 
every  seven  feet.  In  planting  in  drills  I  put  three  seeds 
along  in  the  line,  and  when  the  plants  begin  to  show  run- 
ners, thin  to  one  plant.  By  the  drill  system,  in  addition 


SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW   THEM,    ETC.  19 

to  the  advantages  above  claimed,  I  think  that  the  crop  is 
more  uniform  in  size,  and  the  squashes  are  better  propor- 
tioned in  their  forms  than  under  the  hill  system.  The 
vines  being  in  a  row,  instead  of  a  circle,  the  cultivator  can 
be  carried  nearer  to  them.  Most  of  my  land  is  very  un- 
even, otherwise  I  should  always  plant  in  drills  in  preference 
to  hills. 

PLANTING    THE    SEED. 

The  quantity  of  seed  per  acre  for  the  Marrow  and  Hub- 
bard  varieties  is  set  by  practical  farmers  at  two  and  a 
half  pounds.  This  allows  for  liberal  planting  with  a  good 
surplus  for  after  use,  should  cold  or  wet  weather  rot  the 
seed,  or  insects  destroy  the  plants  that  first  appear.  Four 
seeds  in  the  hill  and  three  in  the  drill  is  sufficient.  The 
seed  should  not  be  put  in,  in  the  latitude  of  Boston,  earlier 
than  the  10th  of  May,  and  may  be  safely  sown  in  ordinary 
seasons  as  late  as  the  first  of  June,  and  success  is  some- 
times attained  with  seed  planted  on  rich,  warm  land  as 
late  as  the  twentieth  of  June.  A  part  and  sometimes  all 
of  the  seed  planted  as  early  as  the  10th  of  May  will 
rot  in  the  ground ;  yet  to  get  the  vines  along  early,  and 
thus  enable  them  to  survive  the  attacks  of  the  squash 
bugs,  formers  oftentimes  take  this  risk.  If,  after  a  cold, 
wet  spell,  the  planter  mistrusts  the  seed  have  rotted  in 
the  ground,  let  him  scratch  away  the  earth  carefully  with 
his  fingers  (it  is  infinitely  easier  to  put  a  seed  under  than 
to  find  it  again  ! ),  and  if  the  seed  is  rotten,  it  will  readily 
show  it  when  pressed  between  the  thumb  and  finger. 

Seed  may  be  planted  either  by  using  the  hoe,  (dropping 
the  seed,  and  covering  with  the  hoe,)  or  each  one  may  be 
thrust  into  the  ground  with  the  thumb  and  finger.  If  the 
attempt  is  made  to  push  the  seed  under  by  the  finger 
alone,  it  is  frequently  left  too  near  the  surface,  as  the 
finger  is  very  apt  to  slip  by  it  unawares.  If  squir- 


20  SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW   THEM,    ETC. 

rels  or  field  mice  abound,  it  will  be  found  safer  to  plant 
with  the  hoe,  as  the  little  rascals  appear  to  have  a  rare 
faculty  for  smelling  out  the  very  spot  where  the  seeds  lie 
when  thrust  under  by  the  finger.  I  have  known  them  to 
begin  at  one  end  of  a  field  and  pass  from  hill  to  hill  in  a 
straight  line  across  the  field,  digging  out  every  seed  with 
unerring  accuracy.  Seed  opened  with  a  knife  and  rubbed 
with  arsenic  or  strichnine  and  scattered  in  the  paths  will 
generally  check  them.  Two  inches  is  ample  depth  in  any 
soil,  and  early  in  the  spring,  or  in  a  rather  wet  or  heavy 
soil,  the  seed  had  better  not  be  planted  more  than  from 
an  inch  to  an  inch  and  a  half  in  depth. 

Seed  planted  on  upturned  sod  will  vegetate  sooner  and 
come  up  with  larger  rudimentary  leaves  than  that  planted 
in  rich,  old  ground ;  I  presume  that  this  is  because  sod 
land  lies  lighter  and  is  better  drained  and,  consequently, 
warmer  than  old  ground.  If,  when  the  rudimentary 
leaves  appear,  the  seed  shell  adheres  to  either  leaf,  it 
will  do  no  harm,  but  if  it  confines  both  leaves  together, 
it  should  be  removed,  if  it  can  be  done  without  injury. 
If  a  seed  pushes  but  a  single  rudimentary  leaf  above  the 
surface,  the  plant  rarely,  if  ever,  comes  to  anything.  If 
these  rudimentary  leaves  continue  to  increase  in  size,  but 
no  leaf  shows  itself  springing  from  between  them,  the 
plant  will  come  to  nothing.  If  the  young  plants  come 
with  a  yellow  color,  it  proves  that  the  season  is  too  cold 
for  them  ;  if,  on  the  other  hand,  they  assume  a  very  dark, 
dull  green  color,  it  is  usually  because  the  manure  with 
which  the  young  rootlets  are  in  contact  is  too  strong  for 
them;  it  is  good  policy,  when  the  manure  proves  too 
strong,  to  carefully  remove  some  of  the  earth  around  the 
plants  with  the  finger,  and  with  the  finger  stir  in  a  little 
fresh  earth, 

If,  as  at  times  will  happen,  some  hills  are  entirely  desti- 
tute of  plants,  it  is  far  better  to  plant  them  with  seed 
than  to  transplant  surplus  vines  from  other  hills ;  true, 


SQUASHES,    HOW  TO    GROW   THEM,    ETC.  21 

such  vines  sometimes  root  at  once,  but  if  checked  in  their 
growth  by  transplanting,  they  rarely  amount  to  anything 
in  the  end. 

This  is  one  of  the  great  conditions  of  success  in  squash 
culture,  to  have  the  vines  start  well  and  make  a  rapid 
growth  without  a  check.  Experience  has  frequently 
proved  that  late  planted  vines  will  oftentimes  ripen  their 
crops  as  early,  and  usually  bear  heavier  crops,  than  those 
planted  two  or  three  weeks  sooner. 

HILL  CULTURE  AND  LEVEL  CULTURE. 

After  the  plants  appear,  it  is  customary  to  draw  earth 
around  them ;  this  is  a  good  practice  as  far  as  it  tends  to 
keep  them  from  being  broken  off  by  the  winds.  It  is 
also  an  almost  universal  custom  to  draw  up  the  earth  into 
a  mound  of  two  or  three  feet  in  diameter,  gradually  in- 
creasing the  height  of  it  with  each  hoeing  until  it  is  six 
inches  or  more  above  the  level  of  the  field.  I  consider 
the  labor  entirely  useless,  to  say  the  least,  and  have  con- 
fined my  own  practice  for  several  years  past  to  level  cul- 
ture, making  no  hills,  and  drawing  just  earth  enough 
home  to  each  plant  to  keep  it  from  being  swayed,  and 
thus  injured  by  the  wind. 

HOEING   AND    CULTIVATING. 

About  as  soon  as  the  plants  show  themselves  above  the 
surface,  the  Cultivator  should  be  set  running.  If  the 
hills  have  been  made  equi-distant  each  way,  the  surface 
can  be  cultivated  close  home  to  them  on  every  side,  leav- 
ing but  little  work  for  the  hoe.  In  no  department  of 
farming  is  the  superiority  of  the  Cultivator  over  the  com- 
mon han^-hoe  brought  out  in  stronger  contrast,  than  in 
working  the  large  open  areas  between  squash  hills.  I 


22  SQUASHES,    HOW   TO   GKOW   THEM,    ETC. 

would  rather  have  the  work  done  by  a  one-horse  Culti- 
vator with  a  boy  to  direct  the  horse  and  a  man  to  hold 
the  implement,  than  have  the  services  of  twenty  men 
with  hand  hoes ;  for  not  only  would  the  surface  be  gone 
over  in  equal  time,  but  the  ground  be  more  deeply  and 
more  thoroughly  stirred,  and  the  weeds  be  better  shaken  up 
and  turned  under  than  would  be  possible  with  hoe  cul- 
ture. The  cultivator  should  be  used  as  often  as  the 
weeds  start,  and  whenever  the  surface  appears  hard,  the 
object  being  two-fold,  to  eradicate  weeds  and  keep  the 
surface  light  and  mellow.  If  witch  grass  abounds,  the 
Cultivator  must  be  freely  used,  particularly  when  the 
surface  is  hot  and  dry,  that  the  vitality  of  the  freshly 
torn  roots  may  be  destroyed.  It  is  not  well  to  leave 
the  soil  unstirred  until  weeds  have  attained  to  some 
size,  as  such  are  very  apt  to  re-root.  If  the  Cultivator 
is  used  while  the  weeds  are  small,  it  can  be  spread 
open  to  its  utmost  capacity.  It  is  always  well  to  have 
one  course  of  the  Cultivator  half  overlap  the  preceding 
course. 

The  last,  and  one  of  the  most  critical,  periods  when 
the  Cultivator  is  needed,  is  just  previous  to  the  push- 
ing out  of  the  runners  over  the  surface  of  the  field. 
The  vines  are  then  growing  rapidly,  (I  have  found  that 
the  large  varieties,  by  actual  measurement,  grow  as 
much  as  fourteen  inches  in  forty-eight  hours),  and  if  spec- 
ial care  is  not  exercised,  the  runners  will  push  so  far 
as  to  prevent  the  final  use  of  the  Cultivator.  The  re- 
sult will  be  a  very  weedy  field  the  remainder  of  the 
season.  I  have  sometimes  practised,  when  caught  in 
this  way,  breaking  the  hold  of  the  tendrils  and  turning 
aside  with  the  hand  such  runners  as  had  got  so  far 
from  the  hills  as  to  be  in  the  way  of  the  Cultivator; 
but  I  have  observed  that  where  the  tendrils  are  broken 
from  whatever  they  have  naturally  clung  to,  as  often  as 
not  the  vines  are  injured  so  much  by  the  wind  that 


SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GKOW   THEM,    ETC.  23 

they  yield  little  or  nothing;  they  are  so  twisted  that 
they  are  often  completely  inverted;  and  though  the 
leaf  stalks  are  true  to  their  instincts,  and  bring  them- 
selves perpendicular  to  the  surface,  yet  in  doing  so,  the 
curve  they  make,  passing  under  the  vine,  lifts  it  a  little 
above  the  surface,  too  far  for  the  joint  roots  to  strike 
into  the  earth  to  hold  the  plant  in  place  and  nourish 
it.  It  is  a  bad  plan  ever  to  break  the  hold  of  the  ten- 
drils, and  as  a  general  rule  better  allow  the  large  weeds 
that  appear  towards  the  close  of  the  season  to  remain, 
than  to  pull  them  up  and  tear  them  out  from  among 
the  vines.  If  the  weeds  are  to  be  removed,  better  cut 
them  off  close  to  the  surface  and  leave  them.  A 
squash  crop  will  foul  the  land  at  the  very  best,  and  let  no 
one  plant  to  squashes  with  the  idea  that  the  frequent 
cultivation  allowed  early  in  the  season  will  tend  to  im- 
prove a  piece  of  ground  already  foul  with  weeds ;  for 
young  weeds  will  spring  up  as  soon  as  the  spread  of  the 
vines  prevents  the  farther  use  of  the  Cultivator,  and 
when  the  leaves  begin  to  thin  out,  at  the  close  of  the  sea- 
son, under  the  stimulant  of  the  sun  and  air,  these  soon  be- 
come mammoths  in  the  rich  soil.  When  we  consider  that 
climbing  appears  to  be  natural  to  the  squash  vine,  the  in- 
jury caused  by  breaking  the  hold  of  the  tendrils,  and  by 
the  moving  about  among  the  thick  net  work  of  vines  to 
do  this,  in  connection  with  the  fact  that  at  best  it  is  next 
to  impossible  to  keep  the  ground  in  clean  condition,  I 
question  Avhether,  as  a  general  rule,  it  is  not  better  to 
allow  these  late  and  large  weeds  to  remain  untouched,  and 
leave  the  clearing  of  the  ground  to  the  crop  of  the  next  year. 
When  the  area  of  ground  is  small,  and  very  clean  cul- 
ture is  desirable,  I  would  advise  the  driving  of  a  fe\v 
stakes  among  the  vines  to  give  the  runners  a  hold  when 
they  first  push  out.  It  is  not  necessary  that  these  stakes 
should  protrude  more  than  one  or  two  inches  above  the 
surface. 


24:  SQUASHES,   HOW   TO    GKOW   THEM,    ETC. 

Many  old  farmers  lay  down  the  rule  that  no  one  shall 
set  foot  on  the  squash  patch  after  the  vines  meet  between 
the  rows.  This  is  a  good  general  rule,  for  most  men 
tread  among  vines  as  ruthlessly  as  though  passing  among 
wire  cables,  crushing  them  under  foot  with  perfect  impu- 
nity. I  don't  think  I  ever  saw  a  farmer  pass  among  even 
his  own  vines  with  what  I  should  call  proper  care.  If 
necessary  to  pass  among  vines,  carry  a  short  stick  in  one 
hand  to  lift  the  leaves  to  see  where  the  foot  is  to  rest  be- 
fore planting  it. 

SQUASHES    WITH    OTHER    CROPS. 

In  the  vicinity  of  large  cities,  where  land,  manure,  and 
labor  are  costly — and  much  of  the  market  gardening  in 
the  vicinity  of  Boston,  ISTew  York  and  Philadelphia  is 
on  land  worth  from  $500  to  $1,000  an  acre — farmers 
usually  grow  their  squashes  in  connection  with  other 
crops.  These  are  oftentimes  Peas  and  early  Cabbages. 
If  early  Peas  or  Cabbages  are  planted  in  rows  three  feet 
apart,  by  omitting  every  third  row,  and  planting  this 
to  squashes  at  the  usual  time,  the  crops  will  not  inter- 
fere with  each  other,  as  the  squashes  do  not  push  their 
runners  till  July,  after  the  pea  crop  has  been  marketed. 
With  Cabbage,  the  third  row  may  be  omitted,  or  every 
third  plant  in  the  third  row;  this  will  give  the  squashes 
9x9.  It  will  be  seen  that  squashes  can  be  raised  only 
with  the  earliest  varieties  of  Cabbage,  such  as  Early 
Wakefield,  Early  Oxheart,  Early  York,  Little .  Pixie, 
Burnels,  King  of  Dwarfs,  that  have  been  started  in  a  hot 
bed.  The  plan  practised  occasionally  of  growing 
squashes  among  corn,  I  consider  a  bad  one.  It  is  very 
common  in  the  country  to  plant  at  the  second  hoeing  a 
couple  of  seed  of  the  Yellow  Field  Pumpkins  in  every 
third  or  fourth  hill,  and  the  yield  is  usually  satisfactory 
to  the  farmer ;  though  if  a  field  was  divided  in  two,  and 


SQTTASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW   THEM,    ETC.  25 

an  accurate  account  kept  of  the  income  from  each  half,  I 
am  inclined  to  believe  that  it  would  be  found  that  what 
was  gained  in  pumpkin  was  more  than  lost  in  corn. 
Squashes  are  more  delicate  in  their  habits  than  the  hardy, 
rough  vined  pumpkin,  and  the  result  of  attempting  to 
grow  them  with  corn  is  usually  a  small  crop  of  inferior 
specimens. 

SETTING  OF  THE  FRUIT. 

Soon  after  the  runners  have  put  forth,  blossom  buds 
will  begin  to  appear  at  the  junction  of  the  leaf-stalks  with 
the  vine.  As  the  buds  develop,  the  stems  will  develop 
also,  until  the  latter  grow  a  foot  or  more  long,  a  little 
longer  than  the  leaf-stalks.  The  blossom  now  opens, 
and  we  have  a  large  yellow  flower,  several  inches  in  di- 
ameter, with  a  powerful  and  rich  fragrance,  very  similar 
to  that  of  a  magnolia.  This  flower  has  at  the  center  a 
yellow  cylinder,  about  an  inch  in  length,  covered  with  fine 
yellow  pollen.  I  find  that  many  persons  look  for  their 
squashes  from  this  class  of  flowers.  Squash  vines  have 
the  sexes  distinct  in  each  flower,  being  what  botanists  call 
mono3cious.  These  are  the  male  flowers,  and  from  their 
structure  can  never  produce  squashes ;  their  office  is 
wholly  to  supply  pollen  to  fertilize  the  pistillate  or  female 
flowers.  The  first  pistillate  or  female  blossom  rarely  ap- 
pears nearer  the  root  than  the  seventeenth  leaf,  or  farther 
than  the  twenty-third.  Instead  of  having  a  long  stem  to 
support  it,  this  flower  opens  close  down  to  the  juncture  of 
the  leaf-stalk  with  the  vine.  It  has  a  small  globular  for- 
mation beneath  it,  which  is  the  embryo  of  the  future 
squash.  If  the  structure  of  the  center  of  the  blossom  is 
examined,  it  will  be  found  to  differ  from  the  tall,  male 
flower,  in  having  the  central  cylinder  divided  at  the  top 
into  several  parts,  usually  four,  sometimes  six  in  number. 
These  are  what  botanists  call  the  pistils,  and  it  is  necessary 


26  SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW   THEM,    ETC. 

that  the  fine  yellow  dust  of  the  male  flower  should  touch 
these,  to  fertilize  them,  that  seed  may  be  produced,  and 
consequently  a  squash  grow — for  the  primary  reason  why 
a  squash  grows,  is,  to  protect  and  afford  nutriment  to  the 
seed,  the  use  of  it  as  food  being  a  secondary  matter.  This 
may  be  proved  by  so  confining  a  blossom,  that  no  pollen 
can  get  access  to  it,  when  the  blossom  will  usually  wilt, 
and  the  embryo  squash  turn  yellow  and  decay.  If  the  fe- 
male flower  be  broken  off  from  the  embryo  squash  before- 
the  flower  has  come  to  full  maturity,  the  squash  will  de- 
cay. These  female  blossoms  are  so  covered  and  hidden  by 
the  tall  leaves,  that  it  is  evident  that  the  fertilizing  pollen 
must  be  conveyed  to  them  by  the  bees,  to  whom  the 
squash  field  appears  to  be  a  rich  harvest  field.  All  of  the 
crossing  or  mixing  of  squashes  is  caused  by  the  pollen 
from  the  male  flowers  of  one  variety  being  carried  by  the 
bees  to  the  female  flowers  of  another  variety.  SQUASHES 

AEE    CROSSED  OR    MIXED  IN    THEIR    SEED,  AND    NOT    IN    THE 

FRUIT.  Many  cultivators  are  in  error  on  this  point ;  they 
have  the  very  common  illustration  of  the  crossing  of  dif- 
ferent varieties  of  corn  in  their  mind,  where  the  mixture 
of  the  varieties  is  at  once  apparent  to  the  eye,  and  infer 
from  this,  that  the  mixture  between  different  varieties  of 
squashes  should  make  itself  visible  to  the  eye  the  same  sea- 
son it  occurs.  A  moment's  reflection  will  correct  this ; 
the  crossing  of  the  first  season  is  always  in  the  seed,  and 
for  this  reason  we  see  it  in  the  corn  the  first  season,  as  the 
seed  is  immediately  visible  to  the  eye,  while  the  various 
colors  of  the  different  varieties  also  aid  us  in  the  matter. 
With  squashes  the  crossing  is  likewise  in  the  seed,  and 
hence  can  not  be  seen  in  them,  until  the  seeds  are 
planted,  when  the  yield  will  show  the  impurity  of  their 
blood.  But,  though  the  crossing  can  not  be  seen  in  the 
squashes  themselves  the  first  season,  yet,  if  one  of  the  va- 
rieties planted  near  each  other,  has  seed  having  the  pecu- 
liar, thick,  salmon-colored  coating,  so  characteristic  of 


SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW   THEM,    ETC.  27 

some  of  the  South  American  varieties,  this  indication  of 
admixture  may  be  detected  by  the  eye  the  first  season. 
The  parallelism  between  the  crossing  of  squashes  and  corn 
may  be  carried  further,  for  it  is  oftentimes  true  with  corn 
as  with  squashes,  that  there  is  a  mixing  of  varieties,  of 
which  no  indication  can  be  detected  in  the  seed  by  the  eye 
the  first  season,  which  a  second  season  will  develop — what 
was  before  an  eight-rowed  variety,  into  a  ten  or  twelve- 
rowed  sort,  or  dark  kernels  may  be  replaced  with  white 
ones,  and  by  numerous  similar  freaks,  bring  to  light  an 
admixture  of  varieties. 

It  is  of  considerable  practical  importance,  that  the  law 
of  admixture  should  be  clearly  understood,  that  the  risk, 
incidental  to  planting  seed  from  squashes  that  look  pure, 
should  be  generally  known  ;  for  it  will  be  seen  from  what 
I  have  written,  that  seed  taken  from  squashes  that  ex- 
ternally are  perfect  types  of  their  kinds,  may  yield  a 
patch,  where  every  one  may  show  marks  of  impurity. 
Again,  no  matter  how  many  varieties  are  planted  together, 
no  crossing  from  the  result  of  that  planting  will  be  seen 
in  the  external  shape,  color,  or  appearance  of  the  crop  the 
same  season. 

To  have  squash  seed  pure,  the  squashes  from  which  they 
are  taken,  must  have  been  grown  isolated,  and  this  not 
only  one  season,  but  for  a  succession  of  seasons.  Should 
several  varieties  of  squashes  be  grown  together,  and  it  be 
desirable  to  keep  one  variety  pure,  it  can  be  done  by  pre- 
venting any  male  flowers  of  the  other  varieties  from  ma 
turing — no  easy  job,  as  those  who  have  tried  it  know.  The 
product  of  any  particular  blossom  may  be  kept  pure  under 
such  circumstances  by  covering  with  fine  muslin,  remov- 
ing it  only  to  fertilize  with  pollen  from  a  male  flower  of 
its  own  vine. 

The  location  of  the  female  blossom,  in  a  measure  cover- 
ed by  the  leaves,  and  low  down,  but  little  affected  by  the 
wind,  would  render  it  probable  that  it  depends  for  fertili- 


28  SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW   THEM,   ETC. 

zation  on  the  bees,  rather  than  on  the  wind ;  and  the  fact 
(as  a  friend  who  has  tested  it,  informs  me)  that  if  only  a 
high  fence  intervenes  between  two  varieties,  the  admixture 
between  them  is  comparatively  small,  corroborates  this 
theory.  To  preserve  the  degree  of  purity  that  is  neces- 
sary in  raising  different  varieties,  requires  planting  at  dis- 
tances apart  varying  with  the  natural  aspect  of  the  coun- 
try ;  a  level  tract  requires  longer  distances  than  would 
be  necessary  in  an  undulating  country,  and  a  space  inter- 
vening abounding  in  flowers  is  a  better  protection 
than  an  equal  distance  where  flowers  are  less  numerous. 
The  object  is  to  get  the  pollen  removed  from  the  thighs 
or  bodies  of  the  bees,  or  have  it  covered  by  the  pollen  of 
other  flowers,  before  they  can  pass  from  a  field  of  one  va- 
riety of  squash  to  that  of  another.  My  own  practice  is,  to 
secure  the  planting  of  one  continuous  district  of  country 
with  the  same  variety  of  squash,  by  giving  to  farmers, 
whose  lands  are  near  my  own,  my  stock  seed  for  their  own 
planting.  Even  with  this  precaution  matters  will  have  to 
be  looked  after,  lest  after  all  promise  to  the  contrary,  greed 
can  not  master  moral  courage  sufficiently,  to  induce  them 
to  pull  up  the  transient  vines  that  spring  up  from  the  ma- 
nure among  cabbages  or  potatoes.  Old  farmers  will  pro- 
fess, from  the  appearance  of  the  calyx  end,  to  classify 
squashes  as  male  or  female ;  this  is  all  nonsense,  for,  as 
will  be  inferred  from  what  has  been  stated,  every  seed 
from  every  squash  contains  the  two  sexes  in  itself,  in  its 
capacity  to  produce  both  male  and  female  flowers. 

Squash  fields  usually  make  about  three  settings  of  fruit. 
I  do  not  mean  by  tliis  that  each  vine  makes  three  settings, 
but  that  this  is  usually  true  of  a  field  as  a  whole.  It  often 
happens,  that  most  of  one  of  their  settings,  usually  the 
second,  turn  yellow  and  rot,  after  many  of  the  squashes 
reach  the  size  of  goose  eggs.  This  is  very  apt  to  take 
place,  should  there  be  a  cold,  wet  spell  just  after  they 
have  set.  Sometimes  all  three  of  the  settings  will  grow, 


SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW   THEM,    ETC.  29 

and  then  stories  of  great  crops  will  be  heard  of  in  the 
squash  districts.  When  a  young  H  ibbard  squash  is  mak- 
ing a  fine  growth,  it  will  have  a  shining  green  appearance, 
as  though  just  varnished,  If  the  appearance  of  the  squash 
changes  to  a  dull  green  color,  the  days  of  that  squash  are 
numbered ;  it  will  soon  shrivel  and  decay. 

PINCHING   VINES. 

I  have  seen  a  vine  perfect  the  growth  of  a  squash  20  Ibs. 
in  weight,  though  the  vine  was  cut  off  within  a  foot  of 
the  squash  when  it  had  reached  the  size  of  an  orange,  and 
another  squash  of  about  the  same  size  was  also  matured 
on  the  same  vine,  about  four  feet  nearer  the  root.  The 
vine  was  highly  manured,  and  grew  on  very  deep  and 
rather  moist  muck  and  loam.  I  can  not  yet  determine  the 
laws  which  govern  the  art  of  pruning  vines.  I  have  had 
some,  the  young  squashes  of  which  appeared  to  do  finely 
after  the  extremities  of  the  runners  were  nipped  at  near 
the  close  of  the  season,  and  others,  where  the  young 
squashes  turned  yellow  and  died,  under,  seemingly,  pre- 
cisely the  same  circumstance.  I  am  inclined  to  think, 
that  it  is  not  well  to  pinch  off  the  ends  of  the  vines  be; 
fore  the  young  squashes  have  attained  to  the  size  of  a 
large  orange.  How  far  a  crop  of  squashes  might  be  in- 
creased by  the  nipping  of  the  vines,  or  a  pruning  of  the 
roots,  is  a  problem  yet  to  be  settled.  The  use  of  the 
cultivator  just  before  the  vines  spread,  must  do  much 
in  the  way  of  root-pruning  the  vines. 

THE    RIPENING    AND    GATHERING    OF    THE 
CROP. 

In  seasons,  in  which  the  early  part  of  summer  is  cold, 
farmers  sometimes  get  almost  discouraged  with  the  small 
number  of  squashes  that  set,  and  the  slow  growth  of  such 


30  SQUASHES,    HOW   TO   GROW   THEM,    ETC. 

as  do  form,  but  a  few  hot  weeks  entirely  change  the 
aspect  of  affairs. 

When  we  have  good  corn  weather,  it  takes  but  a  few 
weeks  to  mature  a  squash.  I  have  known  instances  when 
the  first  fruit  set  was  completely  destroyed  by  a  hail  storm, 
which  occurred  late  in  September,  and  yet  a  fine  crop  of 
squashes  was  gathered  from  the  vines.  When  June  and 
July  are  colder  than  usual,  farmers  will  often  come  out 
from  an  examination  of  their  squash  patch  with  a  signifi- 
cant shake  of  the  head,  yet  I  have  never  known  a  season,  in 
which  cold  or  wet  prevented  the  growing  of  a  fair  crop 
of  squashes  on  land  selected  with  judgment,  well  ma- 
nured, and  taken  care  of.  The  degree  of  ripening  to 
which  the  crop  attains,  will  be  affected  by  a  cold  and  wet 
season,  but  the  chances  of  a  crop  are  equally  good  with  a 
season  wetter  and  consequently  colder  than  usual,  as  with 
a  season  hotter  and  dryer  than  ordinary,  for,  in  addition 
to  the  check  to  their  development  caused  by  a  drought, 
the  borer  and  bugs  are  more  numerous  and  more  active 
in  a  very  dry  season  than  during  a  very  wet  one. 

Ripening  is  indicated  in  the  soft  or  fleshy  stemmed 
squashes,  such  as  the  Hubbard,  Marrow,  and  Turban,  by 
the  drying  of  the  stem,  and  a  dead,  punk-like  appearance 
which  they  assume.  The  leaves  near  the  root  gradually 
turn  yellow  and  dry  up,  and  the  squashes  themselves 
change  color ;  the  Hubbard  assuming  a  duller,  more  rus- 
set color,  and  the  Marrow  and  Turban  sorts  a  deeper 
orange.  The  skin  of  the  Marrow  and  Turban  will  now 
offer  more  resistance  to  the  thumb-nail,  while  the  Hubbard 
will  begin  to  put  on  a  shell,  which  will  be  first  detected 
near  the  stem  end.  It  is  a  singular  fact,  that  the  shell  of 
the  Hubbard  squash  usually  begins  to  form  on  the  under 
side — the  part  towards  the  ground.  When  this  stage  is 
reached,  squashes  can  be  safely  cut  for  storage. 

At  some  seasons,  a  large  portion  of  the  crop,  and,  at 
most  seasons,  a  small  portion  of  the  crop,  just  before 


SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW   THEM,   ETC.  31 

ripening,  are  affected  by  a  blight,  which  turns  the  leaves 
black  near  the  hills,  when  they  die  down,  and  all  the  signs 
of  early  maturity  are  presented  to  the  inexperienced  eye. 
When  the  process  of  ripening  goes  on  naturally,  the  ex- 
posure to  the  sun's  rays,  after  the  leaves  have  died,  does 
no  harm,  but  promotes  the  full  maturing  fcf  the  squash  ; 
but  when  squashes  become  exposed  before  the  natural 
time,  by  the  blighting  of  the  leaves,  they  are,  particularly 
if  of  the  Hubbard  variety,  apt  to  be  "  sun  scalt,"  as  the 
term  is,  by  which  is  meant  a  bleaching,  or  whitening  of 
the  part  most  exposed  to  the  sun.  Such  squashes  rarely 
form  shells,  and,  if  badly  scalded,  are  apt  to  rot  at  the  part 
affected.  In  cutting  squashes  from  the  vines,  a  large  and 
sharp  knife  is  needed.  There  are  two  ways  to  cut  squashes 
from  the  vines ;  one  is,  to  cut  the  vine,  leaving  a  small 
piece  attached  to  the  stem.  By  so  doing,  the  stem  does 
not  dry  up  so  readily,  and  as  large  stems,  when  green,  will 
weigh  as  much  as  a  quarter  of  a  pound,  if  squashes  are  to 
be  sold  soon  after  gathering,  this  will  give  quite  an  addi- 
tion to  their  weight.  Narrow,  selfish  men  sometimes  cut 
their  squashes  this  way. 

The  usual  way  is,  to  cut  the  stem  from  the  vine.  When 
first  cut,  more  or  less  sap  will  run  out  in  a  stream  from 
the  hollow  stem,  though  the  squash  may  be  fully  ripe. 

A    CRITICAL    PERIOD. 

What  shall  be  done  with  the  squashes  after  they  are  cut 
from  the  vines  ?  The  stems  need  a  little  exposure  to  the  sun 
to  scar  them,  and  the  earth,  which  adheres  to  those  grown 
on  low  land,  needs  to  be  dried,  that  it  may  be  rubbed  off 
before  the  squashes  are  stored.  A  good  way  to  accomplish 
this,  is,  to  let  the  squash  remain  where  it  is  cut,  provided 
the  leaves  do  not  shade  it,  care  being  taken  to  give  it  a 
turn,  to  bring  the  under  side  up  to  the  sun. 

If  there  is  danger  from  frost,  it  is  better  to  gather  them 


SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GEOW    THEM,   ETC. 

together  at  convenient  distances,  that  they  may  be  more 
readily  protected.  The  interval  between  the  cutting  of 
squashes  and  the  storing  of  them  is  a  critical  period,  as 
oftentimes  the  keeping  of  the  crop  depends  upon  the 
course  then  taken.  There  is  a  pernicious  practice,  quite 
prevalent,  of  placing  them  in  piles  as  high  as  can  be  made, 
without  their  rolling  off.  Should  frost  threaten,  this,  of 
course,  is  necessary  in  order  that  the  mass  may  be  the 
more  readily  covered  with  vines  to  protect  them;  but 
when  so  piled,  as  soon  as  danger  from  frost  is  over,  they 
should  at  once  be  taken  down,  so  that  all  may  be  exposed  as 
much  as  possible  to  the  sun  and  air.  Farmers,  in  handling 
squashes  at  this  period,  are  apt  to  lose  sight  of  one  im- 
portant fact,  viz. :  that  when  a  squash  is  cut  from  the  vine, 
its  vitality  is  impaired,  and  it  has  no  longer  such  power  to 
resist  the  effects  of  atmospheric  changes  as  it  had  previous 
to  the  separation.  I  say  its  vitality  is  "  impaired,"  for 
the  fact  that  the  seed  continues  to  fill  out  for  a  month  or 
two  after  the  squashes  are  gathered  and  stored,  proves 
that  there  is  a  degree  of  vitality,  however  feeble,  yet 
remaining  in  the  squash  after  separation  from  the  vine. 
The  fact  that  sap  exudes  and  gradually  thickens  into 
tears,  or,  at  times,  runs  in  a  stream  from  the  stems 
when  cut,  no  matter  how  ripe  a  soft  stemmed  squash 
may  appear  to  be,  seems  to  prove  that  some  vital  function 
of  the  sap  vessels  has  been  disturbed ;  while  the  greater 
readiness  with  which  such  squashes  decay,  carries  us  be- 
yond theory  to  the  fact  of  a  diminished  vitality.  I  have 
known  the  lower  layer  of  a  lot  of  Marrow  squashes  in  the 
field,  to  be  found  rotten  through  and  through  on  removal — 
and  this  when  there  had  been  no  frost  to  injure  them — the 
result  being  due  wholly  to  the  dampness  of  the  ground,  dur- 
ing a  rainy  interval,  acting  on  a  diminished  vitality. 

I  have  known  instances  in  which  lots  of  Marrow  squashes 
that  had  never  been  touched  by  frost,  and  were  perfectly 
sound  when  stored,  were  suddenly  covered  with  spots  of 


SQUASHES,  HOW  TO  GEOW  THEM,  ETC.        33 

black  rot,  soon  after  they  were  put  into  a  dry  apartment. 
These  lots  had  been  exposed  in  the  field  in  piles  during 
a  series  of  days  of  cold  rain.  The  practical  lesson  to  be 
drawn  from  such  facts  is,  that  squashes  should  never  be 
left  in  the  fields  exposed  to  cold  rains  after  cutting. 

After  the  stems  have  had  the  sun  a  couple  of  days  to 
Iry  and  sear  them,  and  even  before,  if  cold,  wet  storms 
threaten,  the  squashes  should  be  piled  with  great  care  on 
spring  wagons,  and  taken  from  the  field.  The  rule  should 
be  laid  down  as  invariable,  that  no  squash  shall  be  drop- 
ped in  any  stage  of  its  progress,  from  the  field  to  the 
market ;  they  should  always  be  laid  down. 

THE    STORING    OF    THE    CROP. 

Squashes  are  usually  at  their  lowest  price  in  the  fall  of 
the  year,  after  the  crop  has  been  gathered,  and  before  the 
first  severe  frosts.  The  crop  being  bulky,  and  requiring 
dry  storage,  farmers  are  intent  on  getting  it  to  market  be- 
fore cold  weather  sets  in.  After  the  first  severe  freezing 
weather,  the  crop  is  usually  held  at  a  higher  figure,  as  the 
surplus  not  intended  for  storage  has  been  disposed  of.  In 
the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  large  cities  of  the  North,  a 
large  proportion  of  the  crop  is  stored  in  buildings  known 
as  "  squash-houses,"  to  be  marketed  during  the  winter  and 
spring  months.  These  buildings  are  oftentimes  old  dwelling- 
houses,  school-houses,  or  ware-houses,  removed  from  their 
original  locations  to  the  farm,  and  then  put  to  this  second- 
ary use.  I  present  a  vertical  section  of  my  own  squash- 
house,  by  which  the  general  features  of  all  of  them  can 
be  seen  at  a  glance. 

In  dimensions,  the  building  is  about  24  x  35  feet,  with  a 
height  of  10  feet  to  the  plates.  It  is  divided  into  three 
rows  of  bins,  which  are  separated  from  each  other  and 
the  sides  of  the  building  by  aisles,  (JL,  A,  -4,)  about  26 
inches  in  width,a  distance  which  admits  of  the  easy  handling 
2* 


34 


SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW   THEM,    ETC. 


of  a  bushel  basket,  or  barrel.  The  bins,  (J5,  .Z?,  j??,)  are 
about  5  feet  wide,  26  inches  high,  and  5^-  feet  long.  The 
uprights,  which  support  the  series  of  bins,  are  small  joists, 
2><4  inches,  with  cross-ties  of  inch  or  inch  and  a  quarter 
board  sunk  into  them,  on  which  the  several  platforms  are 
laid.  These  uprights  are  the  length  of  the  bins  apart, 
viz. :  5|-  feet.  At  the  edges  of  the  bins,  boards,  6  inches 


£5  rr: 

SECTION  OF   SQUASH-HOUSE. 


wide,  are  laid,  to  prevent  the  squashes  from  rolling  out. 
These  boards  should  be  planed  on  the  inner,  upper  edge, 
that  they  may  not  cut  into  the  squashes  that  lean  upon 
them.  The  series  of  floors  are  made  of  strips  of  board, 
from  four  to  six  inches  wide,  nailed  about  half  an  inch 
apart,  to  allow  a  circulation  of  air.  It  is  well  to  have 
the  lower  floor  a  sufficient  distance  from  the  floor  of  the 
squash-house,  to  permit  a  cat  to  go  under.  The  cellar  wall 
should  be  carried  close  up  to  the  floor,  by  filling  in  front 
of  the  timbers  with  brick,  or  small  stones  and  mortar ; 
this  will  prevent  rats  from  working  through.  As  the 
building  is  designed  to  support  much  weight,  it  should  be 
strongly  braced  by  timbers  crossing  from  plate  timber  to 
plate  timber,  to  prevent  spreading,  while  the  cross-timbers, 
in  the  cellar,  require  props  of  masonry,  or  joist.  To  eco- 


SQUASHES,    HOW  TO    GROW   THEM,    ETC.  35 

nomize  in  fuel,  on  the  two  coldest  sides,  my  squash-house 
is  double  plastered,  and  has  double  windows  all  around; 
some  have  inner  wrooden  shutters  to  each  window,  which 
are  kept  up  during  cold  weather,  both  day  and  night,  only 
as  much  light  being  admitted,  at  times,  as  may  be  neces- 
sary, while  attending  to  work.  The  roof  has  five  sliding 
windows,  which  assist  in  ventilation  and  give  light  to  the 
upper  part  of  the  building,  that  otherwise  would  be  quite 
dark  when  filled  with  squashes.  The  stove  is  at  one  of 
the  coldest  corners,  with  a  funnel  passing  across  to  a 
chimney  at  the  opposite  corner.  A  building  of  the  above 
proportions  will  hold  about  one  ton  of  Hubbard  squashes 
to  two  bins,  and  by  careful  and  close  stowage  in  all  avail- 
able room,  it  can  be  made  to  hold  about  sixty  tons. 

There  is  an  advantage  in  having  a  low,  wide  building 

rather  than  a  high  and  narrow  one,  as  a  greater  portion  of 

t  is  accessible  from  the  floor,  it  is  less  exposed  to  cold 

winds,  and  the  heat  is  more  evenly  distributed.     In  a  high 

building,  the  heat  in  the  upper  portion  is  apt  to  be  excessive. 

The  squashes  should  be  brought  to  the  squash-house  in  a 
dry  condition,  and  be  stored  before  dew  falls.  The  stems 
being  yet  green,  the  squashes  should  be  so  piled  as  to 
bring  these  to  the  outside  as  much  as  possible.  In  placing 
the  squashes  on  the  shelves,  put  the  largest  ones  on  the  bot- 
tom, giving  them  all  a  slant  in  one  direction ;  they  will 
thus  pack  better,  and  the  uniformity  will  be  agreeable  to 
the  eye.  From  the  beginning  of  the  storing,  every  win- 
dow and  door  should  be  kept  open  during  fair  weather, 
and  a  fire  at  the  same  time  will  help  in  the  drying  of  the 
stems.  Should  there  come  a  damp  time  of  one  day  or 
more,  by  all  means  start  the  fire.  The  stems  will  be  apt  to 
mould  some,  and  the  air  of  the  building  have  a  disagree- 
able  smell  if  they  decay,  though  a  little  moulding  may 
always  be  expected.  In  about  three  weeks  from  the  time 
of  storing,  the  stems  will  be  dry.  In  handling  the  squashes, 
I  need  hardly  reiterate  the  caution  of  care.  My  practice 


36  SQJASHES,    HOW   TO   GEOW  THEM,    ETC. 

is  to  form  a  string  of  boys,  from  the  wagon  to  the 
shelves,  and  the  squashes  are  tossed  from  one  to  another, 
with  the  caution  to  handle  them  like  eggs.  Boys  well 
trained  will  not  drop  more  than  one  squash  to  the  ton,  and 
I  have  known  my  boys  to  pass  several  tons  without  drop- 
ping a  single  squash. 

CARE  DURING  THE  WINTER. 

If  the  squash-house  has  been  built  with  reference  to 
warmth^  when  once  filled  with  squashes,  it  is  surprising 
with  what  little  fire  frost  can  be  kept  out.  The  mass  of 
squashes  are,  in  themselves,  a  great  store-house  of  heat, 
and  with  inside  shutters  for  the  coldest  weather,  the 
building  is  frost  proof,  with  a  small  outlay  of  fuel. 

In  my  own  building,  capable  of  storing  sixty  tons  or 
more,  I  have  a  salamander  stove  of  capacity  sufficient  to 
hold  two  hods  of  coal.  In  ordinary  winter  weather  two 
hods  of  fresh,  and  a  hod  of  sifted  coal  for  night  use,  will  last 
about  twenty-four  hours.  To  keep  the  fire  over  night,  I 
leave  the  cover  off  about  half  an  inch,  and,  if  very  windy, 
also  put  up  the  door  in  front  within  half  an  inch  of  closed. 
When  I  first  attempted  to  keep  squashes  during  the  winter 
in  very  cold  weather,  I  frequently  sat  up  till  midnight,  and 
then  retired  with  much  anxiety,  lest  Jack  Frost  should 
steal  a  march  on  me  before  morning ;  but  from  experience 
I  find  that  a  salamander  can  be  as  well  regulated  and  as 
readily  controlled  as  a  Magee  stove,  while  the  greater 
length  of  funnel  that  can  be  used  with  them,  by  reason 
of  their  superior  draft,  is  a  decided  advantage. 

No  one  can  keep  squashes  to  the  best  advantage,  until 
he  has  fully  learned  to  so  control  his  fire  as  to  keep  the 
temperature  near  the  freezing  point,  and  yet  not  endanger 
the  squashes.  From  a  want  of  this  knowledge,  almost  all 
squash-nouses  are  kept  at  too  high  a  temperature,  and,  as 
a  consequence,  the  squashes  lose  in  weight  and  quality, 
and,  if  they  are  Hubbards,  in  appearance  also,  losing  their 


SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW   THEM,    ETC.  37 

fine  dark  green  color,  and  becoming  of  a  reddish,  rusty  hue. 
The  best  temperature  is  as  low  as  forty  degrees.  After 
squashes  are  stored,  the  great  desiderata  are  a  low  tem- 
perature and  a  dry  air.  Should  the  weather  be  mild  in  the 
course  of  the  winter,  never  be  tempted  to  open  the  win- 
dows unless  the  air  is  dry, — a  very  rare  thing  in  winter, 
as,  on  most  mild  winter  days,  the  air  is  loaded  with  moist- 
ure. If  it  is  desirable  to  air  the  squash-house,  select  a  dry 
day  when  not  very  cold,  start  up  the  fire  and  open  the 
windows  at  the  roof.  Squashes  that  were  grown  in  a  wet 
season,  will  rot  most  in  winter,  and  vice  versa.  Other 
things  equal,  the  keeping  of  squashes  depends  greatly  on 
the  hygrometric  state  of  the  air — in  other  words,  the 
dryer  the  air  the  better  they  will  keep.  This  is  the  reason 
squashes  keep  better  in  a  squash-house  than  in  a  cellar — 
the  house  is  no  warmer  than  a  cellar,  but  the  air  is  dryer. 
In  dry,  sandy  cellars,  by  the  aid  of  a  fire,  they  can  be  kept 
about  as  well  as  in  a  squash-house.  Squashes  in  dry 
cellars  will  usually  keep  very  well  until  January,  and  some- 
times to  the  first  of  February,  particularly  if  the  damp, 
external  air  can  be  kept  from  them.  Several  years  ago  I 
lost  not  far  from  twenty-five  tons  of  squashes  in  about  ten 
days,  as  I  now  believe,  from  having  admitted  the  warm, 
damp  air  of  a  January  thaw  into  the  cellar.  After  squashes 
are  stored,  the  less  they  can  be  handled  the  better;  and 
in  cellars,  it  is  oftentimes  better  to  let  a  few  rot  than  to 
overhaul  squashes  late  in  the  season  with  reference  to 
culling  out  the  rotten  ones,  for,  after  such  overhauling, 
they  usually  decay  faster  than  before.  Cellar-kept 
squashes  have  some  advantages  over  these  kept  in  a  squash- 
house  ;  they  keep  their  original  rich  green  color,  lose  but 
little  or  none  in  weight,  and  are  of  better  quality.  They 
have  the  two  disadvantages  of  not  keeping  as  long,  and 
perishing  very  soon  when  sent  late  to  market.  This  latter 
fact  is  now  generally  known  to  dealers,  and  they  hesitate 
to  purchase  cellar-kept  squashes  late  in  winter.  The  win- 


38  SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW   THEM,    ETC. 

ter  of  1866-7  will  be  a  memorable  one  among  the  squash 
men  of  Massachusetts.  Squashes  being  remarkably  plenty 
and  cheap  in  the  fall,  every  squash-house  in  the  vicinity  of 
Boston  was  filled  to  overflowing.  As  the  season  advanced, 
squashes  began  to  show  a  remarkable  tendency  to  rot,  and 
the  result  was  that,  in  many  cases,  as  large  a  proportion 
as  four-fifths  of  the  crop  rotted  before  spring  opened.  The 
summer  previous  had  been  unusually  wet  and  cold. 

If  apples,  squashes,  or  any  other  fruits  are  gathered 
ripe,  the  next  step  is  to  decay ;  but  if  they  are  not  fully 
ripe,  they  have  this  intermediate  step  to  take  before  de- 
caying. Heat  is  an  agent  in  promoting  progress  in  each 
of  these  steps  ;  hence,  the  less  heat  above  a  freezing  temper- 
ature in  which  squashes  can  be  kept,  other  conditions 
being  equal,  the  longer  they  will  keep. 

The  very  small  squashes  which  are  usually  given  to  stock 
as  soon  as  gathered,  are  among  the  very  best  for  keeping, 
provided  they  are  stored  in  the  warmest  part  of  the  build- 
ing. Late  in  spring  they  are  salable  at  a  high  figure  for 
cooking  purposes.  Out  of  about  five  hundred  pounds  of 
such  squashes  stored  so  near  my  salamander  that  the 
outer  tier  cooked  with  the  heat,  I  found  but  about  ten 
pounds  of  defective  squash  when  I  overhauled  them 
for  the  first  time,  near  April.  Squashes  planted  about  the 
first  of  June  will  usually  keep  better  than  those  planted 
earlier,  on  the  same  principle  that  the  Roxbury  Russet, 
and  Baldwin,  keep  better  than  the  Porter,  or  Sweet  Bough 
apple,  the  former  not  being  ripe  when  gathered  from  the 
tree.  The  order  in  nature  is  that  fruit  should  ripen  before 
it  decays. 

MARKETING  THE  CROP. 

Squashes  are  sold  by  the  piece,  by  the  pound,  and  by 
the  barrel.  Sales  by  the  piece  are  unknown  in  the  Eastern 
States,  as  far  as  my  knowledge  extends.  In  the  markets 
of  New  England,  after  the  summer  squashes,  of  which 


SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW   THEM,    ETC.  39 

'there  is  but  a  limited  demand,  the  Marrow  and  Turban  are 
brought  to  market,  and,  before  frosty  weather  sets  in, 
they  are  sold  mostly  by  the  ton  to  large  dealers.  Late  in 
the  fall  the  Hubbards  begin  to  come  to  market,  for  if 
sold  just  after  gathering,  they  are  rather  forced  on  the 
market,  the  Marrow  and  Turban  being  usually  recognized 
as  the  squashes  for  fall  use.  During  the  winter,  the  sup- 
ply from  the  squash-houses  around  Boston  is  mostly 
brought  to  market  in  barrels,  and  sold  by  the  barrel  with- 
out weighing.  This  is  poor  practice,  as  there  is  often  a 
number  of  pounds  difference  made  by  the  thickness  of 
the  squash,  its  size,  the  packing,  and  the  size  of  the  barrel. 
Such  a  system  of  marketing  is  apt  to  tempt  to  petty  trick- 
ery. 

A  greater  or  less  proportion  of  stored  squashes  will 
decay  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances.  It  is  the 
policy  of  the  squash  grower  to  lose  as  little  as  possible  in 
this  way,  and  the  custom  of  the  markets  of  Boston  usually 
allows  a  little  latitude  in  this  matter.  Hence,  particularly 
as  the  season  advances,  one  or  more  squashes  that  have 
small  rotten  spots  on  them,  are  often  packed  in  a  barrel. 
The  Hubbard  is  a  very  deceiving  squash ;  it  may  be  en- 
tirely rotten  inside,  and  yet,  to  inexperienced  eyes,  appear 
perfectly  sound  without.  If  the  outside  has  white  mould 
spots,  looking  like  some  of  the  concentric  mosses,  the 
squash  is  usually  sound  underneath  the  shell ;  but  if  these 
mould  spots  are  greenish  or  yellow,  it  is  usually  soft  rotten 
in  a  spot  just  beneath  them.  If  the  shell  at  either  end, 
(and  the  Hubbard  usually  begins,  to  decay  at  the  ends), 
has  a  watery  look  outside,  the  squash  is  usually  consider- 
ably decayed  underneath.  If  the  Hubbard  is  very  light, 
it  has  usually  the  dry  rot  inside ;  if  remarkably  heavy,  it 
is  usually  water-soaken  and  worthless  within.  If  a  squash, 
on  being  cut,  proves  to  be  water-soaken,  a  close  exami- 
nation will  usually  show  some  small  opening,  where,  during 
some  stage  of  its  growth,  the  external  air  found  entrance. 


40  SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GEOW   THEM,    ETC. 

FROST-BITTEN    SQUASHES. 

With  the  utmost  care,  squashes  will  at  times  get  frost- 
bitten. The  Marrows  and  Turbans  show  this  by  turning 
a  darker  orange  color  on  the  part  frozen.  If  as  much  as 
one-half  of  the  squash  has  been  frozen,  it  is  frozen  through 
its  thickness,  and  will  very  certainly  soon  decay,  and  the 
best  disposition  to  make  of  it  is,  to  keep  it  at  about  freez- 
ing point  in  an  ice-house,  until  fed  to  stock.  If  less  than 
half  has  been  frozen,  before  the  sun  shines  on  it  turn  the 
frozen  surface  under,  and  keep  out  the  light  as  much  as 
possible ;  this  will  take  out  the  frost  and  save  it,  if  any 
remedy  will,  though  a  frozen  squash  is  always  unreliable 
property.  Some  years  since,  I  had  a  load  of  Marrow 
squashes  brought  me,  which  had  been  stored  in  a  barn 
during  a  cold  spell,  and  the  outer  tiers  had  been  frost- 
bitten. I  separated  the  badly  frost-bitten  ones,  putting 
them,  frozen  side  down,  in  a  dark  cellar  on  the  damp 
earth,  and  stored  such  as  showed  no  signs  of  injury  on 
the  shelves.  In  a  few  days,  no  sign  of  frost  could  be  seen 
on  those  stored  in  the  cellar,  and  they  kept  apparently  as 
well  as  though  they  had  never  been  injured,  while  those 
stored  on  the  shelves  soon  rotted  badly.  The  Hubbard 
squash  is  not  as  much  injured  by  frost  as  are  the  Marrow 
and  Turban ;  if  it  has  a  shell  on  it,  the  result  will  usually 
be  the  production  of  a  dry  rot  under  the  shell  as  far  as 
the  frost  extended,  and  no  further.  I  have  cut  squashes 
in  February  that  had  been  frozen  in  November,  over  an 
area  of  about  five  inches  square,  and  found  all  the  injury 
lone  limited  to  this  space. 

MARKET    PRICES    OF    SQUASHES. 

Within  the  past  six  years,  Marrow  squashes  have  varied 
in  price  in  the  markets  of  New  England  from  $10  to  $40 
per  ton ;  these  variations  are  caused,  for  the  most  part,  by 
the  quantity  brought  to  market,  for,  though  equal  areas 


SQUASHES,    HOW    TO    BROW   THEM,    ETC.  41 

may  be  planted,  there  may  be  all  this  difference,  owing  to 
the  greater  prevalence  of  insects  one  season  over  another. 
The  average  price  of  Marrow  squashes  for  the  past  six 
years  has  been  about  twenty-five  dollars  a  ton. 

The  extremes  of  prices  of  the  Turban  and  Hubbard 
during  the  same  period  have  been  from  $20  to  $50 ;  the 
average  having  been  nearly  thirty-four  dollars. 

Previous  to  the  war,  the  Marrow  ruled  in  the  market  at 
from  815  to  $20  per  ton,  and  the  Hubbard  at  from  $20  to 
$25.  These  prices  are  the  market  rates  just  after  the  crop 
is  gathered.  As  the  season  advances,  prices  rise  to  50, 
60,  ,70,  80,  90  and  100  dollars  per  ton,  and  occasional  lots 
kept  late  into  the  spring,  and  sold  by  the  barrel,  have 
brought  as  high  as  $140  per  ton.  The  last  four  tons  I 
sold  the  past  season  brought  me  $400 ;  yet  so  remarkably 
poorly  did  the  crop  keep  the  past  winter,  that  the  profit 
would  have  been  equally  as  great,  had  I  sold  at  $25  per 
ton  in  the  fall. 

The  markets  of  New  York  and  of  the  large  Southern 
cities  are,  as  yet,  but  poorly  supplied  with  the  Hubbard 
squash  during  the  winter  season.  I  can  think  of  no  in- 
vestment in  agricultural  products  that  would  pay  better 
than  the  judicious  handling  of  a  couple  of  hundred  tons 
of  Hubbard  squashes  in  New  York  or  Philadelphia  dur- 
ing the  winter  months. 

Squash,  farming,  on  lands  pushed  well  out  into  the  ocean, 
have  some  advantages  over  inland  farming.  Neither  the 
cabbage,  or  turnip  fly,  the  pea  bug,  squash  bug,  or  other 
destructive  insect  is  nearly  as  prevalent  in  such  sections 
as  just  back  from  the  coast,  while  the  temperature  is 
three  or  four  degrees  higher  late  in  the  fall,  which  usually 
carries  the  crop  safely  through  the  first  severe  frost,  and 
gives  them  the  advantage  of  two  or  three  weeks  good 
ripening  weather,  that  usually  precedes  the  severe  frosts 
that  usher  in  winter.  I  have  known  years  when  the  mag- 
gots and  bugs  proved  so  destructive  to  the  crop  a  few 


42  SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW   THEM,    ETC. 

miles  from  the  coast,  as  to  bring  squashes  up  to  40  and 
50  dollars  the  ton,  when  at  the  sea  side  the  crop  was  as 
large  as  usual,  having  received  but  little  or  no  injury. 

SQUASHES    FOR    STOCK. 

When  a  large  quantity  of  squashes  is  stored,  ther& 
will  always  be  more  or  less  of  waste.  If  in  a  large  town,» 
many  of  the  spotted  squashes  can  be  most  profitably 
handled  by  cutting  out  the  decayed  portion,  and  market- 
ing the  squash  at  a  reduced  price.  It  has  been  my  practice 
for  years  to  dispose  of  many  of  my  defective  squashes  in 
this  way,  and  I  would  state,  as  a  very  fair  index  of  the 
comparative  popularity  of  the  Autumnal  Marrow,  Turban, 
and  Hubbard  squashes,  in  a  community  where  they  have 
all  been  grown  for  years,  and  are  well  known,  that  the 
sales  of  my  market-man  would  average,  late  in  the  fall 
and  in  early  winter,  ten  pounds  of  Hubbard  and  Turban 
to  one  pound  of  the  Marrow,  though  he  offered  the  Mar- 
row at  one-third  the  price  of  the  Hubbard  and  Turban. 
After  many  trials  I  have  found  it  next  to  impossible  to 
dispose  of  the  Marrow,  while  having  a  stock  of  Hubbard 
and  Turban,  hence  have  adopted  the  plan  of  feeding  the 
former  to  my  stock. 

I  have  fed  principally  to  horned  cattle  and  pigs.  The 
squashes  should  first  have  the  seed  removed,  as  these  tend 
to  dry  up  milch-cows,  or,  if  fed  to  pigs,  to  cause  them  to 
urinate  very  freely.  The  Marrow  should  be  fed  to  horned 
stock  either  in  quite  large  pieces,  or  in  pieces  about  three 
inches  square,  to  prevent  choking — for,  if  made  much 
smaller,  the  cattle  are  more  liable  to  choke.  The  Hub- 
bard should  always  be  cut  into  pieces  three  inches  square, 
as  the  shell  and  curve  of  large  pieces  combined,  are  too 
much  for  the  cattle  to  manage. 

If  squashes  are  plenty,  they  may  be  fed  very  liberally, 
a  bushel  and  more  a  day  for  each  head ;  the  only  danger 


SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GKOW   THEM,    ETC  43 

to  be  guarded  against  being  lest  they  relax  the  animals 
too  much.  In  value  for  milk  purposes,  they  appear  to 
combine  the  good  qualities  of  the  Mangold  Wurtzel,  and 
the  Carrot,  both  increasing  the  flow  of  milk  and  improv- 
ing its  quality.  This  is  more  particularly  true  of  the 
Hubbard  and  Turban  varieties.  For  fattening  purposes, 
the  Hubbard  is  excellent,  as  might  be  anticipated  from 
the  large  proportion  of  sugar  which  is  developed  in  it  at 
the  approach  of  winter.  I  have  known  a  cow  to  be  fatted 
for  the  butcher  on  the  Hubbard  squash,  used  in  connection 
with  good  English  hay. 

In  feeding  to  pigs,  it  can  be  fed  raw,  or  be  boiled'  up 
with  meal,  or  meal  and  scraps.  My  usual  practice  has 
been,  to  boil  the  squash  in  a  Mott's  boiler,  about  a  barrel 
and  a  half  at  a  time,  adding  a  peck  of  beef  or  pork  scraps, 
broken  into  small  pieces,  and  stirring  in  meal,  sufficient  to 
thicken  it.  When  cooked,  it  should  be  cooled  as  soon  as 
possible,  as  the  squash  is  very  apt  to  sour,  and  make  the 
mass  thin  and  somewhat  unpalatable  to  the  animals.  I 
have  known  a  sow,  with  young,  to  be  kept  wholly  on  raw 
Hubbard  squashes,  and  on  her  coming  in  to  be  in  better 
condition  than  was  desirable. 

Squashes  might  be  raised  for  cattle  among  corn  as  pump- 
kins are,  (they  are  better  food  for  animals  than  pump- 
kins,) though  I  have  doubts  of  the  profitableness  of  this 
double  crop,  where  each  makes  its  growth  and  matures 
at  about  the  same  time. 

No  doubt  an  improvement  on  this  is,  to  omit  every 
third  row  of  corn,  and  give  the  vacant  space  to  the  squash 
hills.  Among  seed  onions,  I  grow  squashes  with  little  or 
no  apparent  detriment  to  the  crop,  but  in  this  case  the 
crops  are  planted  and  mature  with  more  than  a  month's 
difference  between  them  at  each  end  of  the  season.  Be- 
sides horned  cattle  and  hogs,  many  horses,  goats,  poultry, 
and  rabbits  will  eat  squashes  with  avidity. 

As  to  their  comparative  value  as  food  for  stock,  each 


44  SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW    THEM.   ETC. 

grower  must  strike  the  balance  for  himself — the  facts  be- 
ing, that  the  yield  is  from  one-fourth  to  one-third  as  great 
as  carrots,  and  from  one-fourth  to-  one-fifth  as  great  as 
mangolds,  while  they  require  but  a  fraction  of  the  care  in 
cultivation  and  gathering,  that  either  of  these  crops  do. 

VARIETIES  OF  SQUASHES. 

Owing  to  the  great  tendency  in  the  varieties  of  the 
Cucurbitaceous  Family  to  cross  with  each  other,  hybids  are 
very  common.  Seed  planted  the  first  season  after  the  cross- 
ing has  been  made,  will  usually  produce  a  greater  crop  than 
either  of  the  parent  kinds,  and  individual  squashes  will  be 
superior  in  quality  to  either  of  the  parents  ;  yet,  as  a  rule, 
hybridization  is  not  desirable,  for,  after  the  first  season, 
there  is  a  deterioratiori  in  the  quality,  below  the  average 
of  the  parent  kinds,  while  the  mixed  varieties  are  not  so 
marketable  as  the  pure  kinds. 

lliibbanl  Squash. — I  have  traced  the  history  of  this 
squash  back  about  sixty  yearsr  when  the  first  specimen 


HUBBARD    SQUASH. 


was  brought  into  Marblchead  by  a  market-man  named 
Green,  who  lived  in  the  vicinity  of  Boston.  The  person 
who,  when  a  girl,  ate  of  the  first  specimen,  is  now  living,  an 


SQUASHES,    HOW    TO    GROW   THEM,   ETC.  45 

old  lady  of  over  four  score  years,  and  recalls  the  original 
form,  which  is  much  like  that  of  the  present  type — turned 
up  "  like  a  Chinese  shoe."  It  is  now  above  twenty  years 
since  the  variety  was  first  brought  to  our  notice  by  our 
old  washerwoman  named  Hubbard  ;  and  to  distinguish  it 
from  a  blue  variety  that  we  were  then  raising,  we  called 
it  '•  Ma'am  Hubbard's  Squash"  ;  and  when  the  seed  became 
a  commercial  article,  and  it  became  necessary  to  give  it  a 
fixed  name,  I  called  it  the  Hubbard  squash.  If  I  had  been 
able  at  the  time  to  forecast  its  present  fame,  and  have  fore- 
seen that  it  would  become  the  established  winter  variety, 
throughout  the  squash  growing  region,  I  might  have  be- 
stowed some  more  ambitions  name ;  and  again  I  might 
not,  for  the  old  lady  was  faithful  in  her  narrow  sphere  in 
her  day  and  generation,  a  good,  humble  soul,  and  it  pleases 
me  to  think  that  the  name  of  such  an  one  lias  become,  with- 
out any  intent  of  hers,  famous. 

The  form  of  the  Hubbard  is  spherical  at  the  middle, 
gradually  receding  to  a  neck  at  the  stem  end,  and  to  a 
point  usually  curved  at  the  calyx  end,  where  it  terminates 
in  a  kind  of 'button  or  an  acorn.  In  color  it  is  dark  green, 
excepting  where  it  rests  on  the  earth,  where  it  is  of  an  or- 
ange color.  It  usually  has  streaks  of  dirty  white  begin- 
ning at  the  calyx  end,  where  the  ribs  meet,  and  extend- 
ing half  or  two-thirds  way  up  the  squash.  After  the  squash 
ripens,  the  surface  exposed  to  the  sun  turns  to  a  dirty 
brown  color.  The  surface  is  often  quite  rough,  and  presents 
quite  a  knotty  appearance.  When  the  Hubbard  is  ripe  it 
has  a  shell  varying  in  thickness  from  that  of  a  cent  to  that 
of  a  Spanish  dollar. 

For  a  year  or  two  after  we  began  to  cultivate  the  Hub- 
bard, we  cultivated  also  a  blue  colored  squash,  called,  at 
the  time,  the  Middleton  Blue.  In  a  few  years  this  squash 
became  so  thoroughly  incorporated  with  the  Hubbard,  by 
repeated  crossings,  that  it  appeared  to  share  the  character- 
istics of  a  new  varietv  •  hence  we  called  it  the  blue  Hub- 


46  SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW    THEM,    ETC. 

bard,  and  for  some  years  I  spoke  of  two  varieties  of  the 
Hubbard,  a  green  and  a  blue  kind.  On  testing  the  blue 
variety  by  itself,  I  found  it  had  the  characteristic  of  all 
hybrids,  a  tendency  to  sport.  For  this  reason,  of  late 
years  I  have  endeavored  to  throw  it  entirely  out  of  cul- 
tivation in  my  seed  stock. 

After  the  Hubbard  squash  became  somewhat  noted,  a 
communication  occasionally  appeared  in  the  Press  claiming 
that  it  was  but  an  old  variety  revived.  After  giving  all 
these  claims,  including  those  made  to  me  personally  by 
private  correspondence,  a  fair  examination,  I  am  persuaded 
that  the  Hubbard  is  not  an  old  variety  revived,  and  that 
until  it  was  sent  out  from  Marblehead,  with  the  exception 
of  such  cases  as  could  be  traced  to  seed  distributed  occa- 
sionally by  me  during  the  course  of  few  years  previous,  it 
it  was  unkown  in  the  United  States.  In  my  endeavors  to 
trace  its  origin,  the  nearest >  I  have  come  to  it  was  in  a 
variety  of  squash  procured  from  one  of  the  West  India 
Islands,  which  had  many  characteristics  in  common  with 
the  Hubbard,  though  the  shells  of  the  squash  were  uni- 
formly blue  in  color,  and  its  quality  was  somewhat  inferior. 

Several  claimed  that  it  was  but  the  Sweet  Potato  squash 
revived.  I  have  raised  a  squash  called  by  that  name  my- 
self, and  have  seen  two  or  more  other  lots  that  were  raised 
by  friends,  from  seed  procured  in  different  sections  of  the 
United  States,  and  never  saw  one  yet  that  resembled  the 
green  Hubbard. 

The  apparent  connection  between  the  Sweet  Potato  and 
Hubbard  squash,  I  am  convinced,  has  been  made  through 
the  blue  variety,  which,  when  without  a  shell,  has  a  close 
resemblance  to  some  of  those  kinds  that  go  under  the 
name  of  "Sweet  Potato"  squash. 

American  Turban  Squash,— I  have  given  the  prefix 
American  Turban  Squash,  to  distinguish  it  from  the  French 
Turban,  with  which  many  seedsmen  have  confounded  it. 
The  French  Turban  is  the  most  beautiful  in  color,  and  the 


SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW   TUE3I,    ETC.  47 

most  worthless  in  quality  of  all  the  varieties  of  squash 
that  have  come  to  my  notice.  Nearly  flat  in  shape,  grow- 
ing to  weigh  ten  to  twenty  pounds,  it  has  a  large  promi- 
nence at  the  calyx,  and  shaped 
like  a  flattened  acorn ;  this  is 
elegantly  quartered,  with  a 
button  in  the  middle,  and  is 
most  beautifully  striped  with 
white  and  a  bright  grass  green, 
while  a  setting  of  bead  work 
surrounds  it.  The  body  of 
the  squash  is  of  the  richest 
orange  color.  In  quality  the 
AMERICAN  TUKBAN  SQUASH.  French  Turban  is  coarse, 
watery,  and  insipid. 

The  American  Turban  is,  without  doubt,  a  combination 
of  the  Hubbard,  Autumnal  Marrow,  Acorn,  and  French 
Turban,  and  the  finest  achievement  that  has  as  yet  been  ob- 
tained by  hybridization.  Like  all  hybrids  it  tends  to  sport, 
and  varies  somewhat  in  quality,  so  that  while  most  of  the 
squashes  are  of  first  quality,  some  will  be  found  that  are 
inferior;  yet,  with  such  parents  as  the  Hubbard,  Acorn, 
and  the  Autumnal  Marrow  (when  we  recall  its  early  excel- 
lence), we  might  expect  to  find  a  superior  squash,  and  in 
the  average  quality  of  the  Turban  we  shall  not  be  disap- 
pointed, for  in  dryness,  fineness  of  grain,  sweetness,  deli- 
cacy of  flavor,  and  richness  of  color,  when  fully  ripened, 
it  cannot  be  surpassed.  Like  the  Hubbard,  it  is  edible  before 
it  is  fully  ripe,  either  of  these  varieties,  particularly  the 
Hubbard,  being  superior  for  table  use  when  unripe  to  any  of 
the  varieties  of  summer  squashes.  The  form  of  the  body  of 
the  squash  is  nearly  cylindrical,  the  two  diameters  being 
usually  in  the  proportion  of  three  to  five,  while  it  is  more 
or  less  flat  at  both  the  stem  and  calyx  ends.  At  the  calyx 
end  there  is  usually  more  or  less  prominent  an  acorn. 
This  may  be  very  clearly  defined,  standing  out  very 


48  SQUASHES,    HOW   TO   GROW   THEM,    ETC. 

prominently  from  the  body  of  the  squash,  or  it  may  be 
very  much  flattened  and  sunk  within  the  body,  with  the 
acorn  barely  traceable.  In  degree  of  prominence  the 
acorn  sports  greatly,  for  on  squashes  growing  on  the  same 
vine,  I  have  found  in  one  specimen  the  acorn  projecting 
very  prominently,  and  very  fully  developed,  while  on  a 
second  specimen  it  could  only  be  traced  in  a  rudimentary 
form.  It  is  not  desirable  that  the  acorn  should  be  promi- 
nent, as  the  seed  extends  into  it  at  the  calyx  end  of  the 
squash  where  the  meat  is  very  thin,  and  if  the  acorn  is 
very  prominent,  a  slight  bruise  will  injure  it  and  cause 
the  squash  to  rot.  For  this  reason  I  have  selected  seed 
squashes  for  the  last  two  or  three  years  from  those  in 
which  the  acorn  was  not  very  prominently  displayed,  en- 
deavoring to  produce  a  type  in  which  it  should  be  little 
more  than  rudimentary. 

Some  writers  on  vegetables  treat  the  American  Turban 
squash  as  but  an  improved  form  of  the  French  Turban, 
whereas  it  is  a  distinct  variety.  It  is  indebted  to  the 
French  Turban  for  nothing  more  than  the  principal  fea- 
tures of  its  form,  getting  its  quality,  keeping  properties, 
color  and  fineness  of  grain  from  its  other  parent.  As  the 
American  Turban  is  the  result  of  hybridization,  there  is 
more  or  less  of  variety  in  the  shape  and  color  of  the  crop, 
and  this  will  continue  to  be  so  unless  by  long  and  close 
cultivation  of  a  particular  type,  sufficient  individuality 
shall  be  acquired  by  this  one  type  to  stamp  the  entire  crop. 
Though  it  may  be  a  very  pleasing  thing  to  the  eye  to  see 
every  specimen  alike,  yet  I  consider  it  too  great  a  risk  to 
cultivate  a  hybrid  squash  for  this  end ;  for  who  knows 
what  characteristics  each  parent  has  contributed  or  how 
much  these  are  affected  by  each  other  in  combination  ? 
Until  these  points  are  determined,  there  is  danger,  lest  in 
continued  selections  of  a  given  type  some  good  traits 
should  be  eliminated. 

We  know  that  in  some  way  the  original  excellence  of 


SQTJASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW   THEM,   ETC.  49 

the  Autumnal  Marrow  squash  hag  been  lost,  and  no  one 
can,  for  a  certainty,  tell  when  or  how  this  disappeared,  and 
though  originally  an  admixture  of  other  sorts  was  doubt- 
less the  first  step  towards  this  deterioration,  yet  we  are 
inclined  to  believe  that  a  tendency  to  give  prominency 
and  individuality  to  the  original  admixture,  has  gradually 
borne  under  the  good  traits  of  the  original  Marrow. 

Autumnal  Marrow  Squash. — This  is  also  known  as  the 
Boston  Marrow,  or  Marrow,  it  having  been  a  very  promi- 
nent squash  in  the  markets  of  Boston  for  a  series  of  years. 
A  mongrel  early  variety  of  it  is  also  known  as  the  "  Cam- 
bridge Marrow."  This  squash  was  introduced  to  the 
public  by  Mr.  J.  M.  Ives,  in  the  years  1831-2.  When  in- 


AUTUMNAL  MARROW  SQUASH, 

troduced,  it  was  a  small  sized  squash,  weighing  five  or  six 
pounds,  fine  grained  and  dry,  with  an  excellent  flavor. 
Market  men  found  that  by  crossing  with  the  African  and 
South  American  varieties,  they  could  increase  the  size  of 
the  original  Marrow;  they  did  this  without  troubling 
themselves  about  any  risk  of  deteriorating  the  quality, 
and  I  doubt  not  that  much  of  the  present  inferior  quality 
of  the  Marrow  squash  is  due  to  this  vicious  crossing.  In 
form  the  Marrow  is  much  like  the  Hubbard,  but  with  less 
distinctive  prominence  in  the  neck  and  calyx.  In  color, 
$he  Marrow  is  between  a  lemon  yellow  and  a  rich  orange ; 
8 


50  SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GKOW   THEM,    ETC. 

the  skin  is  covered  with  fine  indentations,  giving  it  a  pock- 
marked appearance.  The  body  of  the  squash  is  divided 
into  sections  by  slight  depressions  in  its  longest  di- 
ameter. Under  the  thin  outer  skin,  or  epidermis,  is  a 
thicker  skin  of  a  dark  orange  color.  The  flesh  is  orange 
colored.  The  seeds  are  somewhat  larger  and  thicker  than 
in  the  Hubbard,  and  considerably  larger  but  not  so  thick 
as  in  the  Turban.  In  quality  the  Marrow  of  to-day  varies 
much ;  sometimes  we  find  specimens  that  are  all  that  can 
be  desired,  particularly  as  we  get  near  to  the  original 
type,  (this  has  been  kept  more  nearly  correct  in  Marble- 
head  than  elsewhere),  but  in  its  general  character  the 
Autumnal  Marrow  is  watery,  not  sweet,  and  oftentimes 
deficient  in  flavor  and  fineness  of  texture.  From  its 
great  productiveness,  it  is  a  favorite  squash  with  market- 
men,  and  its  rich  orange  color  and  handsome  form  render 
it  popular  with  those  who  have  not  become  acquainted 
with  the  more  recently  introduced  and  finer  varieties. 
There  are  two  varieties  grown  extensively  for  Boston  mar- 
ket known  as  the  Cambridge  Marrow.  One  of  these  is 
quite  large  in  size,  usually  having  the  green  color  at  the 
calyx,  indicating  a  mongrel  variety  ;  the  other  is  of  me- 
dium size,  and  is  characterized  by  a  brilliant  orange 
color,  that  makes  it  very  attractive  to  the  eye.  Both  of 
them  mature  a  little  earlier  than  the  purer  sort. 

These  three  varieties  of  fleshy  stemmed  squashes,  the 
Hubbard,  American  Turban,  and  Autumnal  Marrow,  in- 
clude most  of  those  raised  for  market  purposes.  There  is 
a  large  number  of  other  varieties,  such  as  the  Valparaiso, 
African,  Honolulu,  Cocoa-nut,  Sweet  Potato,  etc.,  some  of 
which  have  quite  distinct  characteristics,  that  are  more 
or  less  raised  in  the  family  garden,  but  several  of  them 
are  of  inferior  quality,  some  are  hybrid,  and  though  one 
or  two  may  be  desirable  for  the  garden,  yet  none  of  them, 
as  far  as  I  have  made  acquaintance  with  them,  have  char- 
acteristics which  would  invite  their  general  cultivation. 


SQUASHES,    HOW  TO    GROW   THEM,    ETC.  51 

In  that  excellent  work  by  my  friend,  Fearing  Burr, 
"The  Field  and  Garden  Vegetables  of  America,"  will  be 
found  quite  a  list  of  summer,  fall  and  winter  varieties.  I 
am  often  in  receipt  of  varieties  of  high  local  repute  in  dif- 
ferent sections  of  the  country,  and  it  is  possible  that  some 
of  them  when  tested  may  prove  worthy  of  general  culti- 
vation. 

Passing  to  the  hard  or  woody  stemmed  varieties,  we 
find  included  among  them  the  Winter  Crookneck,  the 
Canada  Crookneck,  Yokohama,  and  Para. 

The  Crooknecks  had  their  day  and  generation  before  the 
introduction  of  the  soft-stemmed  varieties.  They  were  then 
the  standard  sorts,  and  the  kitchens  of  thrifty  farmers  were 
adorned  with  choice  specimens  hanging  suspended  around 
the  walls  by  strips  of  list,  to  be  used  during  the  winter, 
in  the  course  of  the  spring,  and  even  well  into  the  sum- 
mer months.  The  Crooknecks  are  characterized  by  long, 
usually  curved  necks,  terminating  in  a  bulb-like  prominence 
at  the  calyx  end,  which  contains  the  seed.  The  vines  are 
covered  with  rough  spines,  and  in  the  shortness  of  their 
leaf-stalks,  the  smaller  size  and  different  color  of  the  leaves, 
are  readily  distinguished  from  the  soft-stemmed  sorts. 
They  vary  much  in  color  at  the  time  of  the  gathering,  and 
there  is  a  general  tendency  in  all  of  them  to  change  to  a 
yellow  hue  in  the  course  of  the  winter.  In  quality,  the 
Large  Winter  Crookneck  is  coarse  grained  and  watery, 
while  the  Canada  Crookneck  is  finer  grained,  and  at  times 
quite  dry  and  sweet.  The  Winter  Crookneck  weighs 
from  ten  to  twenty-five  pounds  and  upwards,  and  the  true 
Canada  Crookneck,  which  is  rarely  found  pure,  averages 
from  four  to  six  pounds.  In  keeping  properties,  the 
Crooknecks  excel,  frequently  keeping  in  dry,  warm  apart- 
ments the  year  round,  and,  in  a  few  instances,  two  years. 
When  kept  into  the  summer  the  seeds  are  at  times  found 
to  have  sprouted  within  the  squash. 

The  Crooknecks  are  subject  to  a  kind  of  dry  rot,  par- 


52  SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW  THEM,    ETC. 

ticularly  in  spring,  which  gives  them  a  peculiar  appear- 
ance when  cut,  the  tissue  between  the  cells  having  a  dull, 
white  color,  though  the  fibres 
of  flesh  still  retain  their  bright 
yellow  color.  Worthless  for  table 
use.  The  true  measure  of  the 
length  of  time  a  squash  keeps, 
is  how  long  it  keeps  its  quality r, 
and  not  its  mere  structure. 

The  Yokohama  is  compara- 
tively a  new  visitor  from  Japan, 
it  having  been  received  in  this 

i  oan   T        TV/r  CROOKNECK  SQUASH. 

country  in  the  year  I860,  by  Mr. 

James  Hogg,  from  his  brother  then  residing  at  Yokohama 
in  Japan.  The  vine  is  a  very  free  grower  and  a  good 
yielder,  though  from  the  comparatively  small  size  of  the 
squash,  the  weight  of  the  crop  is  not  large  when  compared 
with  the  Hubbard,  Turban,  or  Marrow.  It  is  quite  flat  in 
shape,  with  somewhat  of  a  depression  at  each  end.  The 
diameters  are  to  each  other  about  as  one  to  three  or 
four.  It  is  deeply  ribbed,  and  the  flesh,  which  is  of  a 
lemon  color,  is  remarkably  thick,  making  it  the  heaviest 
of  all  squashes  in  proportion  to  its  size.  The  flesh  is  very 
fine  grained,  smooth  to  the  taste,  and  has  a  flavor  resem- 
bling the  Crookneck.  With  those  who  like  the  taste  of 
the  Crookneck,  the  Yokohama  will  likely  be  very  popular. 

In  external  color,  before  ripening,  it  is  of  an  intensely 
dark  green,  covered  with  blisters,  like  a  toad's  back ;  as 
it  ripens,  it  begins  to  turn  of  a  light  brown  color  at  both 
the  stem  and  blossom  ends,  and,  after  storing,  it  soon  be- 
comes entirely  of  a  copper-like  color,  and  is  covered  with 
a  slight  bloom.  It  may  be  well  to  start  this  squash  under 
glass,  on  squares  of  turf,  though,  after  an  experience  of 
three  seasons,  I  am  pursuaded  that  it  is  becoming  ac- 
climated ;  indeed,  my  crop  of  last  season  ripened  with  the 


SQUASHES,  HOW  TO  GKOW  THEM,  ETC.        53 

Hubbard  and  Turban.     The  cultivation  of  the  Yokohama 
is  mostly  confined,  as  yet,  to  private  gardens. 

Para,  Or  Polk  Squash, — This  is  a  half-bush  squash. 
In  the  first  stages  of  its  growth,  it  has  a  bush  habit,  and 
sets  its  first  fruit  like  a  bush  squash,  but  later  it  pushes 
out  runners  eight  or  ten  feet  in  length,  and  bears  fruit 
along  them.  The  squash  was  brought  to  this  country 
from  Para,  in  South  America.  In  shape  it  is  oblong; 


PARA,   OR  POLK  SQUASH. 

it  is  ribbed,  of  a  tea-green  color,  excepting  the  portion 
which  rests  on  the  ground,  which  is  of  a  rich  orange 
color.  The  squashes  weigh  about  three  pounds  each. 
They  require  the  whole  season  to  mature,  and  when 
in  good  condition,  the  flesh  is  dry  and  of  a  rich  flavor. 
Like  the  Yokohama,  I  apprehend  they  will  be  very  popular 
with  a  class,  rather  than  with  the  community  at  large. 
Both  the  Yokohama  and  the  Para  can  be  kept  well  into 
the  winter.  I  have  kept  a  Yokohama,  crossed  on  the 
Turban,  fourteen  months,  and  Hubbards,  in  two  instances, 
twelve  months. 

THE    SUMMER    SQUASHES. 

The  remarks  made  relative  to  the  cultivation  of  the  fall 
and  winter  varieties,  will  apply  to  the  cultivation  of  the 
summer  squashes,  with  the  exception  of  the  distance  be- 
tween the  hills ;  this,  as  they  are  of  a  bushy  habit,  should 
be  about  five  feet.  In  quality,  the  summer  squashes  have 
but  little  to  recommend  them ;  it  is  principally  their  fresh, 
new  taste  that  makes  them  acceptable  for  the  table.  South 
of  New  York,  the  cultivation  of  squashes  is  confined  al- 


54  SQUASHES,    HOW  TO   GROW   THEM,   ETC. 

most  wholly  to  the  bush  varieties.  Until  recently,  the 
"New  York  market  for  fall  and  winter  squashes  has  been 
supplied  largely  by  the  growers  around  Boston. 

I  find  that  there  is  a  strong  belief  among  prominent 
seedsmen  in  the  Middle  States,  that  the  running  varieties 
of  squashes  will  not  succeed  in  their  section — they  will 
not  form  the  thick,  fleshy  root,  they  say.  We,  in  the 
North,  have  always  looked  upon  the  squash  as  a  half 
tropical  fruit,  and  anticipated  finding  greater  and  greater 
success  in  its  cultivation,  the  farther  South  it  was  planted. 
It  has  all  the  characteristics  of  a  semi-tropical  plant,  like 
the  tomato  and  melon,  and  should  it  be  true  that  there  is 
such  a  climacteric  limitation,  it  would  be  a  marked  excep- 
tion to  a  general  law.  I  presume  a  canvass  of  my  cor- 
respondence would  settle  the  question,  and  regret  that  I 
have  not  time  to  do  this  ;  yet  I  have  but  little  doubt  that, 
under  proper  culture  in  the  South,  our  running  varieties 
would  do  as  well,  or  better,  than  they  do  North.  It  oc- 
curs to  me,  at  this  moment,  that  Dr.  Phillips,  the  enter- 
prising editor  of  the  Southern  Farmer,  stated  to  me,  in 
the  course  of  correspondence,  that  he  had  raised  them  by 
the  acre  in  Mississippi  with  complete  success. 

The   standard  summer  varieties  are  the   Yellow   and 

White  Bush  Scollop,  often 
called  Pattypan  or  Cym- 
bals, and  the  Summer 
Crookneck.  Of  these  the 
gfe  Summer  Crookneck  is  the* 
best.  All  of  these  form  a 
shell  as  they  ripen,  and  are 
then  unfit  for  the  table, 
They  should  not  be  cooked 

WIHTE-B  JSH  SCOLLOPED   SQUASH.  .      J    ,         ,      ,,  ,        r  ,     , 

after  the  shell  can  be  felt  by 

«he  thumb-nail.  The  Green  Striped  Bergen  is  an  early 
variety,  quite  popular  in  the  markets  of  New  York.  A 
U  squash,  about  twice  the  size  of  a  large  orange,  some- 


SQUASHES,    HOW   TO   GEOW  THEM,   ETC.  55 

what  fluted,  called  Sweet  Potato  Squash,  is  highly  prized 
by  some  who  are  of  high  repute  among  squash  fanciers. 
Several  of  the  varieties  that  are  grown  as  gourds,  for 
ornamental  purposes,  are  edible,  a  large  proportion  of 
them,  indeed,  as  I  have  found  on  testing  the  largest  of  my 
specimens  before  feeding  to  the  pigs.  As  a  general  rule, 
all  that  are  not  bitter  to  the  taste  are  edible. 

The  Vegetable  Marrow  is  about  the  only  variety  of  the 
squash  family  cultivated  by  our  English  cousins.  With 
them,  it  is  brought  to  the  table  in  the  same  style  as  our 
own  varieties,  or  so  cooked  as  to  form  part  of  a  soup. 

A  friend,  who  resided  some  years  in  England,  informed 
me  that  one  of  the  greatest  novelties  to  an  English  eye 
was  an  Autumnal  Marrow  Squash,  which  he  kept  as  a 
center  piece  on  his  marble  table  for  a  month  or  more. 

The  Custard  Squash,  one  of  the  hard  stemmed  sorts,  of 
a  yellowish  cream  color,  oblong  in  shape,  deeply  ribbed, 
weighing  from  twelve  to  twenty  pounds,  is  quite  a  favorite. 

ENEMIES  OF   THE  VINE. 

The  insect  enemies  are  the  striped  bug  (G-aleruca 
vittata),  or  pumpkin  bug  (Coreus  tristis),  and  the  insect 
that  produces  the  squash  maggot.  The  striped  bug  ap- 
pears about  the  first  of  June,  and  several  broods  being 
hatched  in  the  course  of  the  summer,  they  continue  their 
depredations  throughout  the  season.  After  the  vines 
"have  pushed  their  runners  two  or  three  feet,  their  vigor 
is  such  that  the  after  depredations  of  this  little  insect  is 
of  no  practical  importance — with  the  exception  of  injury 
occasionally  done  to  immature  squashes,  the  upper  sur 
face  of  which  are  sometimes  found  covered  with  them,  and 
hundreds  of  little  cell  like  holes  are  eaten  out.  The  injury 
done  by  the  striped  bug  is  mostly  confined  to  the  period 
in  the  growth  of  the  vine  between  its  first  appearance 
above  the  ground  and  the  formation  of  the  fifth  leaf.  They 


56       SQUASHES,  HOW  TO  GROW  THEM,  ETC. 

feed  on  both  the  upper  and  under  surface  of  the  leaf,  and, 
sucking  its  juices,  soon  reduce  it  to  a  dry,  dead  net-work. 
The  eating  of  the  seed  leaves  of  the  plant,  the  two  leaves 
which  first  appear,-is  not  always  fatal,  provided  the  leaf 
that  starts  from  between  them  is  uninjured ;  if  this,  how- 
ever, is  eaten  out,  for  all  practical  purposes  the  plant  is  de- 
stroyed, and  should  be  pulled  up  and  thrown  away,  no 
matter  if  the  seed  leaves  are  wholly  uninjured.  In  those  lo- 
calities where  the  striped  bug  is  not  very  prevalent,  the 
greatest  harm  of  its  ravages  is  sometimes  prevented  by 
planting  the  seed  about  the  tenth  of  May,  should  the 
weather  permit,  which  will  enable  the  vines  to  get  so  far 
along  as  usually  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  serious  in- 
jury. The  preventives  to  the  ravages  of  this  little  insect, 
which  attacks  the  whole  vine  family,  including  cucumbers 
and  melons,  are  numerous.  They  may  nearly  all  be 
brought  under  two  classes  :  those  which  act  mechanically, 
by  covering  the  leaves  so  as  to  make  them  inaccessible  to 
its  punctures,  and  those  which  repel  the  insect  by  their 
disagreeable  odors  or  pungent  flavor.  The  best  protectors 
of  the  first  class  are  hand  glasses,  little  frame-works 
covered  with  millinet  or  some  very  coarse  cotton  cloth, 
or,  as  this  insect  usually  flies  but  a  few  inches  above  the 
surface  of  the  earth,  any  box,  circular  or  square, 
from  which  the  bottom  has  been  removed,  having 
sides  about  ten  inches  in  height.  The  remedies  of 
the  second  class  are  those  which  are  principally  relied 
on  where  squashes  are  cultivated  on  a  large  scale.  These' 
should  be  applied  early  in  the  morning  when  the  dew  is 
on,  or  directly  after  a  rain,  when  the  leaves  are  wet,  that 
they  may  adhere.  In  using  them  a  small  fine  sieve  will 
be  found  very  convenient.  The  best  of  these  remedies  I 
name  in  the  order  of  their  popularity  in  great  squash- 
growing  districts.  Ground  plaster,  oyster-shell  lime,  air 
slaked  lime,  ashes,  soot,  charcoal  dust,  and  common  dust. 
Plaster  and  oyster-shell  lime  I  consider  of  equal  value,  and 


SQUASHES,   HOW  TO   GEOW  THEM,   ETC.  57 

the  use  of  protectors  in  my  own  grounds  is  confined  to 
one  or  the  other  of  these.  Against  air  slaked  lime,  which 
is  very  commonly  used,  there  is  this  serious  objection. 

However  thoroughly  it  may  be  air-slaked,  it  still  re- 
mains sufficiently  caustic  in  its  nature  to  seriously  in- 
iure  the  leaves,  causing  more  harm  by  its  burning  prop- 
erties than  good,  by  preventing  the  ravages  of  the 
bug.  I  have  seen  an  acre  of  thrifty  vines  entirely  de- 
stroyed, through  the  caustic  properties  developed  in  the 
lime  by  a  gentle  shower  that  fell  just  after  its  appli- 
cation ;  the  leaves  were  so  burned  that  they  rubbed  to  dust 
in  the  finger.  Charcoal  dust  and  soot  not  only  protect 
the  vines,  but  serve  also  to  draw  the  heat  of  the  sun,  often- 
times very  grateful  to  the  young  vines  in  the  early  season 
of  the  year ;  while  soot  and  ashes  in  all  localities,  and 
plaster  and  lime  in  some  localities,  as  they  are  washed 
from  the  leaves  by  the  rain,  serve  as  a  stimulating  manure 
to  the  young  plants.  The  advantages  of  plaster  and  oyster- 
shell  lime  are,  that  being  very  finely  powdered,  they  can  be 
easily  dusted  over  the  vine,  while  their  white  color  has  the 
advantage  that  it  can  be  seen  at  a  glance  whether  the  leaves 
are  fully  covered.  Common  dust  sounds  cheap  as  a  pro- 
tector, but  the  trouble  of  collecting  and  separating  from 
stones  that  might  otherwise  injure  the  leaves,  is  more 
than  an  offset  to  the  cost  of  other  articles.  These  pro- 
tectors should  be  applied  as  soon  as  the  young  plant  breaks 
ground,  before  it  has  fairly  shaken  off  the  shell  of  the  seed, 
as  the  insect  is  often  at  work  then,  and  the  application 
should  be  renewed  after  every  shower,  the  object  being  to 
keep  every  leaf  entirely  covered  as  far  as  practicable  until 
the  fifth  leaf  is  developed,  when  the  plants  are  usually  be- 
yond reach  of  injury  from  this  little  enemy,  provided  the 
hills  have  been  supplied  with  rich,  stimulating  manure,  suf- 
ficient to  give  them  a  rapid  growth.  Among  this  class  of 
remedies,  watering  the  plants  with  a  decoction  of  tobacco, 
a  little  kerosene  oil,  stirred  in  water  while  being  applied, 
3* 


58  SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW   THEM,    ETC. 

(the  proper  proportion  of  this  had  better  be  tested  by  experi- 
ment), applying  water  in  which  hen  manure  or  guano  has 
been  dissolved,  sprinkling  the  leaves  with  a  mixture  of 
wheaten  flour  and  red  pepper,  or  snuff,  or  sulphur,  etc., 
etc.,  have  been  found  efficacious  by  various  persons.  Dr. 
Harris  states  that  these  insects  fly  by  night  as  well  as  by 
day,  and  are  attracted  by  the  light  of  burning  splinters  of 
pine  knots,  or  of  staves  of  tar  barrels.  As  insects  breathe 
through  pores  in  their  bodies,  such  strong  ammoniacal  odors 
as  are  given  off  from  a  liquid  in  which  hen  manure, 
guano,  or  kerosene  have  been  mixed,  must  tend  to  suffo- 
cate and  so  repel  them. 

As  new  land  is  much  less  infested  with  bugs  than  old 
land,  in  sections  where  these  insects  are  very  troublesome, 
it  will  be  better  to  break  up  sward. 

In  fighting  these  pests,  where  but  few  hills  are  cultiva- 
ted, pieces  of  board  or  shingle  laid  around  the  young 
plants,  just  above  the  surface  of  the  ground,  will  collect 
many  on  their  undersides  over-night,  and  by  examining 
them  early  in  the  morning,  many  can  be  brushed  off  into  hot 
water.  I  don't  think  much  of  the  plan  of  killing  them 
about  the  vines ;  the  old  saying  that  "  when  one  is  killed 
fifty  will  come  to  his  funeral"  appears  to  have  a  savor  of 
truth  in  it,  for  I  have  noted  that  where  I  have  killed  them 
about  the  vines,  there  seems  to  be  no  end  to  the  business  ; 
with  constant  attention,  still  the  bugs  appear  to  be  about 
as  plenty  as  at  first.  I  think  that  the  odor  from  the  dead 
ones  attracts  others. 

The  large  black  bug  I  consider  rather  a  pumpkin  than 
a  squash  bug,  as  in  this  section,  and  in  others,  as  far  as  my 
knowledge  extends,  where  the  cultivation  of  the  pump- 
kin has  been  given  up  for  a  number  of  years,  it  has  al- 
most entirely  disappeared.  Occasionally  a  leaf  of  a  vine 
will  be  seen  pretty  well  covered  with  the  rascals  late  in  the 
season,  but  so  scarce  are  they  that  for  several  years  past 
I  have  not  seen,  on  an  average,  more  than  one  a  season 


SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW   THEM,    ETC.  59 

on  my  vines,  and  I  cultivate  several  acres  annually.  When 
the  plants  are  young,  they  are  likely  to  be  found,  if  at  all, 
below  the  elementary  leaves,  sucking  out  the  juices  from 
the  vine  itself.  For  these  fellows  there  is  nothing  like  fin- 
ger work.  I  have  known  an  instance  in  the  interior  where 
they  were  so  numerous  on  Pumpkin  vines  planted  among 
corn,  that  the  mere  smell  of  them  acted  as  an  emetic  to 
three  separate  sets  of  hands  that  attempted  to  hoe  the 
corn  patch. 

The  squash  maggot  is  hatched  from  the  egg  of  an  insect 
bearing  a  close  resemblance  to  the  lady-bug,  but  of  a  size 
considerably  larger.  The  eggs  are  usually  deposited  near 
the  root  of  the  vine,  within  an  inch  or  two  of  the  ground ; 
and  in  seasons  when  this  insect  abounds,  eggs  are  depos- 
ited at  the  junction  of  the  leaf  stalks  with  the  vine  along 
some  six  or  eight  feet  of  vine.  As  soon  as  the  egg  is 
hatched,  the  maggot  begins  to  eat  his  way  through  the 
center  of  the  vine,  and  his  boring  will  be  seen  outside  his 
hole,  like  those  of  an  apple-tree  borer.  The  vines  thus  at- 
tacked will  wither  under  a  mid-day  sun,  and  the  injured 
ones  are  thus  readily  detected.  Squashes  on  such  vines 
usually  make  but  little  growth,  and  the  vines  ultimately 
die.  If  the  presence  of  the  borer  is  early  detected,  he  can 
sometimes  be  killed  by  thrusting  a  wire,  or  stout  straw 
into  his  hole ;  sometimes  the  vine  is  slit  open  and  the  in- 
truder found  and  killed,  but  vines  thus  treated  do  not 
always  recover.  If  the  slit  portion  is  covered  with  earth 
and  pegged  down,  sometimes  but  little  injury  is  done.  I 
have  taken  thirteen  borers  from  a  single  vine,  some  of  the 
largest  being  an  eighth  of  an  inch  in  diameter  and  an  inch 
in  length. 

It  happens,  at  times,  after  the  vines  have  made  a  vigorous 
growth  of  several  feet,  they  suddenly  wilt  and  die  with- 
out any  perceptible  cause ;  no  insects  are  to  be  found  on 
the  leaves,  there  are  no  borers  in  the  vines,  and  on  exam- 
ining the  roots,  everything  to  be  seen  by  the  naked  eye 


60  SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GKOW   THEM,   ETC. 

appears  Sound  and  healthy.  I  am  at  a  loss  to  explain  the 
cause  of  this,  unless  it  be  that  the  vine  has  been  poisoned 
by  something  that  it  has  taken  into  its  circulation.  I  have 
picked  half-grown  plums  from  a  tree  that  tasted  as  salt  as 
brine.  The  tree  had  received  a  heavy  manuring  with  salt, 
and  ultimately  died,  proving  that  there  is  such  a  thing  in 
the  vegetable  world  as  a  tree  poisoning  itself  by  feeding 
to  excess  on  one  variety  of  food  ;  and  what  is  true  of  a 
tree  may  be  true  of  a  vine. 

WOODCHUCKS  AND  MUSKRATS. 

On  low  land,  near  water  courses,  Muskrats  will  some- 
times make  sad  havoc  with  the  growing  fruit ;  while  on 
uplands,  the  Woodchuck  is  sometimes  exceedingly  destruc- 
tive. If  the  portion  troubled  by  muskrats  is  of  small  area, 
the  squashes  can  be  protected  by  taking  boxes  of  sufficient 
size,  cutting  a  narrow  slit  in  their  sides,  and  setting  the 
squashes  in  them,  having  the  vines  enter  and  go  out  of 
the  narrow  slits.  When  muskrats  begin  on  a  squash,  as 
far  as  I  have  observed,  they  make  a  finish  of  it  before  in- 
juring others. 

Woodchucks  are  exceedingly  destructive ;  they  rarely 
entirely  devour  a  squash,  but  gnaw  more  or  less  all  in  the 
vicinity  of  their  burrows  If  these  burrows  are  not  con- 
veniently near  the  squash  patch,  they  will  leave  the  old 
and  make  new  ones  close  by,  or  even  in  the  midst  of  the 
squash  field.  The  wounds  made  by  their  broad  teeth  soon 
heal,  if  the  squashes  have  not  reached  their  growth,  and 
the  gnawing  has  not  been  through  the  squash,  but  the 
crop  is  much  injured  for  market  purposes,  and  the  squashes 
are  apt  to  rot  at  the  gnawed  places  after  they  are  stored. 
I  have  had  a  ton  injured  in  this  way  one  season  by  a  sin- 
gle woodchuck.  A  thousand-and-one  ways  are  given  to 
catch  and  destroy  the  woodchucks ;  traps  set  a  little  way 
down  in  their  holes,  and  carefully  hidden  with  earth,  and 


SQUASHES,   HOW  TO   GROW  THEM,   ETC.  61 

apples  containing  arsenic,  rolled  into  their  burrows,  are 
among  those  that  have  proved  successful.  It  is  worth 
while  to  offer  five  dollars  for  the  skin  of  a  woodchuck  that 
has  commenced  depredations  in  a  squash  field. 

SAYING    SEED. 

In  selecting  squashes  for  stock  seed,  take,  while  the 
squashes  are  in  the  field,  or  immediately  after  they  are 
gathered,  neither  the  largest  nor  the  smallest  specimens. 
The  largest  specimens  are  very  tempting,  particularly  so 
if  they  have  the  true  form,  appear  to  be  well  ripened,  and, 
if  Hubbards,  have  a  hard  shell ;  but  experience  has  proved 
that  these,  as  a  class,  are  most  likely  to  be  of  impure 
blood.  About  a  year  ago  two  of  my  neighbors,  who  had 
become  famous  for  their  large  Hubbard  squashes,  came  to 
me  to  get  a  new  stock  of  seed  to  start  from ;  they  stated 
that  within  a  few  years  a  large  proportion  of  their  squashes 
grew  soft-shelled.  Now,  as  they  had  made  it  a  rule  to  se- 
lect the  largest  specimens  for  seed,  I  have  no  doubt  but 
that  the  admixture  that  was  evident,  from  the  loss  of  the 
hard  shell  characteristic  of  the  true  Hubbard,  had  crept  in 
that  way.  Every  old  squash  grower  is  aware  of  the  great 
change  that  has  come  over  the  Autumnal  Marrow  squash. 
When  introduced,  it  was  of  small  size,  weighing  about  five 
or  six  pounds,  exceedingly  dry,  fine  grained,  and  rich 
flavored.  Now  its  quality  is  uncertain,  for  the  most  part 
greatly  deteriorated  below  the  original  standard,  but  it 
grows  to  double  the  average  size  of  the  original  squash.  I 
have  not  the  slightest  doubt  but  this  deterioration  is  due 
to  the  vicious  practice  of  saving  seed  stock  from  the  largest 
specimens  grown,  these  specimens  having  got  their  extra 
size  from  larger  and  coarser  varieties  of  the  African  or 
South  American  type.  If  any  one  has  doubts  of  this  theory, 
he  can  easily  satisfy  himself  by  examining  the  calyx  end  of 
a  crop  of  the. largest  sized  variety  of  Marrow  squashes, 


62  SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW  THEM,    ETC. 

when  lie  will  find   a  proportion  of  them  with  the  green 
color  stolen  from  the  African  or  South  American  family. 

Having  decided  on  medium  sized  specimens  for  seed 
stock,  select  those  that  are  most  strongly  marked  exter- 
nally with  the  characteristics  of  the  variety.  If  a  Hub- 
bard,  it  should  be  very  thick  and  hard  shelled,  of  a  dark 
green  color,  and  the  rougher  and  more  nubbed  the  better. 
Let  it  have  a  good  neck  and  calyx  end,  and  be  as  heavy 
in  proportion  to  its  size  as  possible.  The  stem  of  both 
this  and  the  Marrow  squash  should  stand  at  quite  an 
angle  with  the  squashj  and  have  a  depression  where  it 
joins,  as  this  indicates  an  early  ripened  specimen.  The 
flesh  should  be  hard,  fine  grained  and  thick,  and  not 
stringy  on  the  inside.  See  to  it  that  the  squash  swells 
out  to  a  fair  degree  in  the  middle,  and  has  an  average 
proportion  of  seed.  Having  selected  such  specimens 
as  these,  bring  them  to  the  final  test  of  the  dinner  table, 
and  reject  every  one  that  does  not  there  show  all  the  char- 
acteristics of  dryness,  flavor,  and  fineness,  that  belong  to  a 
first-rate  specimen. 

I  know  that  the  injunction  to  select  specimens  that 
swell  out  to  a  fair  degree  in  the  middle,  is  contrary  to  the 
course  pursued  by  most  farmers ;  yet  I  advise  it  on  the 
ground  that  such  squashes,  having  a  good  quantity  of  seed, 
have  superior  vitality  a,nd  individuality,  and  are  nearer  na- 
ture's ideal  of  perfection  in  the  animal  and  vegetable  king 
dom,  being  better  able  to  maintain  the  species. 

I  have  seen  the  working  of  this  law  most  conspicuously 
in  the  Crookneck  family  of  squashes.  The  cultivator's 
type  of  a  fine  market  squash  is  one  with  as  large  a  neck 
and  as  small  a  seed  end  as  possible.  Following  out  this 
idea,  they  select  for  seed,  specimens  with  a  small  seed  end, 
and  the  result,  as  far  as  I  have  observed,  has  been  that  the 
squash,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  has  deteriorated  and 
become  worthless. 


SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GKOW   THEM,   ETC.  63 

When  to  Take  Out  the  Seed,— We  have  advised 
that  the  specimens  for  seed  purposes  be  selected  early 
in  the  season,  because  later,  particularly  when  they 
have  been  exposed  to  a  high  degree  of  heat,  the  color 
becomes  so  changed  that  the  work  of  selection  becomes 
far  more  difficult.  The  next  question  to  discuss  is, 
when  shall  we  seed  them?  Contrary  to  the  generally 
received  opinion,  the  seed  is  not  ripe  when  the  squash  is — in 
other  words,  after  the  squash  has  completed  its  growth, 
the  vines  dying  naturally  and  the  stem  being  dead  and 
hardened,  still  the  seeds  are  not  fully  matured  till  some- 
time after  the  squash  is  stored.  The  length  of  time  will 
vary  with  the  season,  it  being  longer  in  a  wet  season  and 
shorter  in  a  dry  one,  the  two  extremes  being  from  one  to 
three  months.  If  seeds  are  taken  out  as  soon  as  the  squash 
is  gathered,  though  at  the  time  they  present  a  very  plump 
appearance,  yet  if  they  are  examined  after  they  are  dry,  a 
large  proportion  will  be  found  to  be  plump  only  on  one 
side,  most  of  them  to  be  twisted,  and  not  a  few  of  them 
entirely  wanting  in  meat.  When  seeding  large  lots  for 
market,  I  have  found  the  percentage  of  loss  in  the  weight 
of  the  seed  quite  an  important  matter,  it  being  as  high  as 
one-fifth.  After  the  squash  is  gathered,  the  process  of 
ripening  the  seed  goes  on  until  the  entrails  are  absorbed, 
or  eaten  up  by  the  seed,  and  the  seed  continue  to  increase 
in  plumpness  and  weight  until  their  entrails  are  so  far  con- 
sumed that  only  eo  much  remains  as  is  necessary  to  hold 
together  the  seed  structure.  This  final  ripeness  is  indicated 
by  the  seed  compartments  in  the  squash  becoming  dis- 
tinct, and  the  attachments  peeling  off  like  the  skin  from 
an  orange.  If,  when  the  squash  is  opened,  the  seed  are  em- 
bedded in  a  hard,  dense  mass  of  growth  within,  that 
does  not  readily  separate  from  the  squash,  they  will  be 
twice  as  hard  to  clean,  and  will  weigh  full  twenty  per 
cent,  short  of  the  weight  of  well  ripened  seed  when  cleaned. 

The  seed  is  cleaned  from  the  intestines  by  being  either 


64  SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GEOW   THEM,    ETC. 

squeezed  out  or  washed  out.  If  squeezed  out,  it  will  dry 
sooner,  and  when  rubbed  and  winnowed  when  dry  will 
have  a  more  velvety  look  than  when  washed.  Where  a 
large  quantity  is  to  be  handled,  it  is  cleaned  more  quickly 
by  washing  than  by  rubbing,  but  it  requires  to  be  dried 
upon  a  comparatively  clean  surface ;  whereas  rubbed  seed 
can  be  dried  upon  any  surface,  no  matter  how  dirty,  as 
the  refuse  squash  that  remains  adhering  to  it  effectually 
protects  it  from  all  injury.  Washed  seed  should  not  be 
spread  over  one  deep,  and  squeezed  seed  not  over  one  and 
a  half  deep ;  each  should  be  stirred  after  the  second  day. 
If  washed  seed  is  stirred  earlier,  it  is  apt  to  be  injured  by 
the  tearing  of  the  epidermis,  which,  for  the  first  day  or 
two,  adheres  strongly  to  the  surface  it  is  spread  on.  The 
temperature  for  drying  seed  should  not  be  over  about  one 
hundred  degress,  and  better  less  than  higher.  Never  dry 
seed  in  an  oven,  or  very  near  a  stove.  The  upper  shelf 
of  a  kitchen  closet,  or  a  plate  on  the  mantle  piece,  not  too 
near  the  stove  funnel,  are  each  of  them  handy,  though 
housewives  will  sometimes  say  they  are  not  suitable 
places — if  mice  are  apt  to  gnaw  the  seed  in  the  closet, 
or  children  to  see  them  on  the  mantle,  for  a  certainty  I  will 
not  dispute  them.  When  the  quantity  to  be  cleaned  is 
small,  the  sooner  it  is  attended  to,  after  the  entrails  have 
been  removed  from  the  squash,  the  brighter  the  seed  will 
look ;  but  if  the  quantity  is  large,  by  letting  the  mass  stand 
one  or  two  days,  until  fermentation  begins  and  the  entrails 
are  partly  decayed,  the  seed  can  be  cleaned  with  far  greater 
expedition.  Much  care  and  some  experience  is  requisite 
to  determine  how  far  fermentation  can  be  allowed  to  ad- 
vance. As  a  general  rule,  if,  on  thrusting  the  hand  into 
the  middle  of  the  mass,  it  feels  milk  warm,  it  should  be  at 
once  mixed  well  together,  and  the  whole  be  washed  out 
within  six  hours.  The  great  danger  in  permitting  fer- 
mentation to  advance  too  far  is  losing  the  white,  ivory-like 
epidermis  of  the  seed,  thus  destroying  much  of  their  beauty, 


SQUASHES,    IlOW  TO   GROW  THEM,   ETC.  65 

and  lowering  their  value  for  market  purposes.  In  washing 
the  seed,  the  water  used  may  be  made  about  milk  warm,  and 
so  soon  as  they  have  been  squeezed  out  of  the  entrails, 
skirn  them  off  the  surface,  dropping  them  into  a  sieve 
about  as  coarse  as  a  common  coal  sieve ;  when  this  is  nearly 
full,  dash  over  them  a  couple  of  buckets  of  water,  giving 
them  immediately  a  quick  shaking,  which  will  tend  to 
work  out  through  the  meshes  fragments  of  the  entrails  that 
were  taken  out  with  them.  If  the  hand  is  thrust  into  a 
mass  of  freshly  washed  seed,  it  will  collect  a  good  many 
pieces  of  the  entrails.  After  pouring  the  water  on  the 
seed,  incline  the  sieve  at  a  sharp  angle,  in  order  to  drain 
off  the  water.  After  they  are  well  drained,  pour  them 
out  on  a  large  piece  of  soft  cotton  cloth,  and  rub  and 
roll  them  well  to  absorb  as  much  of  the  moisture  as  possi- 
ble. Now  spread  as  above  directed.  Two  good  hands, 
with  seed  in  the  right  state,  will  sometimes  wash  out  not 
far  from  one  hundred  pounds  of  seed  in  a  day. 

When  are  Squash  Seed  Sufficiently  Dry  I—It  took  me  a 
couple  of  years  to  learn  a  very  simple  rule  by  which  this 
can  be  infallibly  determined ;  meanwhile  I  suffered  a  great 
deal  of  anxiety,  took  a  great  deal  of  extra  care,  (I  got  out 
twenty-six  hundred  pounds  of  squash  seed  one  season,)  and 
yet  after  all  had  a  feeling  of  uncertainty  in  the  premises. 
The  ordinary  way  is  to  call  squash  seed  dry  when  the  en- 
veloping skin  has  separated  from  the  seed,  and  the  seed 
itself  is  much  contracted  and  has  a  dry  look.  If  the  tem- 
perature to  which  it  has  been  exposed  is  quite  low, 
this  is  a  pretty  safe  guide,  but  if  it  has  been  dried  at  a 
somewhat  high  temperature — though  the  seeds  may  rustle 
with  quite  a  dry  sound  when  handled,  yet  appearance 
is  a  very  deceitful  guide — and  if  such  seed  are  packed 
in  barrels,  they  will  be  very  likely  to  sweat,  and  when 
turned  out,  come  out  in  caked  masses,  and  if  left  together, 
will  soon  become  musty.  Squash  seed,  to  be  really  dry, 


66  8QTTASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW   THEM,   ETC, 

must  be  so  in  the  meat  as  well  as  in  the  shell,  and  this 
can  be  in  a  moment  determined  by  endeavoring  to  bend 
them.  If  they  are  pliable,  they  are  not  yet  sufficiently 
dry ;  if  they  snap  instead  of  bending,  they  can  be  safely 
stored  for  future  use. 

How  long  will  Squash  Seed  keep  their  Vitality  ?— Squash 
seed,  like  all  other  seed,  are  best  kept  in  a  cool  place,' 
where  the  air  is  dry  and  the  temperature  is  as  even  as  pos- 
sible. I  have  found  that  of  the  same  lot  of  seed,  those  which 
were  kept  in  an  open  bag  did  not  retain  their  vitality  as 
long  by  a  year  as  those  which  were  kept  in  the  same  bag, 
but  put  up  in  paper  packages. 

I  have  known  squash  seed  to  be  fairly  good  at  six  years 
old,  and  again  to  be  worthless  when  but  three  years  old, 
and  with  no  perceptible  difference  in  the  getting  out  and 
method  of  keeping  of  the  two  lots.  I  would  lay  down 
the  rule  to  always  test  squash  seed  before  planting,  if  it 
be  over  two  years  old.  This  can  be  easily  done  by  putting 
a  few  in  a  cup,  with  water  sufficient  to  swell  them,  covering 
them  with  some  cotton  wool,  to  prevent  evaporation,  and 
placing  the  cup  where  the  heat  is  gentle,  near  the  stove 
or  on  the  upper  shelf  of  a  closet. 

If  the  oil  that  enters  into  the  composition  of  the  meat 
of  the  squash  seed  has  become  rancid,  the  vegetative  power 
of  the  seed  is  destroyed.  This  is  easily  determined  by 
breaking  the  seed,  when  the  meat  will  be  of  a  dark  color, 
and  have  a  rancid  taste.  Under  such  circumstances,  the 
shell  of  the  spoiled  seed  will  be  usually  darker  colored  than 
that  of  good  seed.  In  a  lot  of  seed  saved  at  the  same  time, 
a  portion  will  be  spoiled,  while  the  remainder  will  readily 
vegetate,  and  some  that  to  the  eye  and  taste  appear  to  be 
perfectly  sound,  will  prove  to  be  utterly  worthless.  The 
cause  of  the  difference  in  either  case  I  do  not  know. 

The  proportion  of  seed  and  entrails  of  squashes  to  their 
entire  weight  is  less  than  is  generally  supposed.  By  tests, 


SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW   THEM,   ETC.  67 

applied  towards  the  close  of  February,  a  few  years  ago,  I 
found  that  the  weight  of  seed  and  entrails  to  the  entire 
squash,  in  the  Turban,  was  as  65  to  1000 ;  and,  in  the  Hub- 
bard,  as  55  to  1000.  At  that  date  the  entrails  had  less 
weight  than  they  would  ho,ve  shown  earlier  in  the  season. 

INSTINCTS  AND   HABITS   OF    SQUASH  VINES. 

It  seems  hardly  fitting  to  close  this  treatise  without 
alluding  to  something  higher  than  the  mere  pecuniary  or 
culinary  value  of  the  squash  family.  In  common  with  all 
the  vegetable  world,  it  has  instincts  which  are  both 
curious  and  wonderful.  How  singular  it  is  that  roots  have 
power  to  push  through  the  soil  directly  to  the  spot  where 
the  best  food  is  found,  descending,  if  necessary,  below  the 
plane  of  growth,  or  ascending  above  it  to  the  very  surface 
and  developing  a  perfect  mist  of  rootlets  to  catch  up  the 
decaying  particles  found  under  a  small  heap  of  rubbish  ! 
Still  more  wonderful  are  some  of  the  instincts  of  the  vine 
itself.  Each  tendril  stretches  out  to  catch  hold  of,  and  fasten 
to  something  by  which  it  can  support  the  vine,  and  rarely, 
if  ever,  will  it  make  the  mistake  of  catching  hold  of  any 
but  the  best  supporter  within  reach.  Yet  more  and  higher 
even  than  this  is  the  instinct  they  develop.  They  not  only 
reach  out  for  a  support,  and  make  selection  of  the  object  to 
which  to  cling,  but  they  will  vary  the  direction  of  their 
growth  through  quite  a  number  of  degrees  in  pursuit  of 
the  particular  object  they  have  selected.  To  see  this 
wonderful  phenomenon  in  its  most  striking  aspect,  select  a 
vine  of  some  one  of  the  mammoth  varieties,  under  cir- 
cumstances in  which  its  most  vigorous  growth  will  be 
developed.  Let  every  stick,  weed,  or  the  like,  be  removed 
from  the  vicinity  of  the  main  runner,  and  then  thrust  firmly 
into  the  ground  a  slip  of  shingle,  not  over  half  an  inch 
wide,  on  one  side  of  the  vine,  a  few  inches  beyond  the  out- 
stretched tendril  that  is  alwavs  found  near  the  extremity, 


68  SQUASHES,    HOW   TO    GROW   THEM     ETC. 

noting  with  care  at  the  same  time  the  direction  in 
which  the  extremity  of  the  yine  points.  Within  twenty- 
four  hours  it  will  be  found  that  the  vine  has  turned 
from  its  former  course,  towards  the  side  on  which  the 
shingle  is  placed,  while  the  tendril  has  turned  towards  the 
shingle  and  perhaps  found  and  grasped  it !  In  proof  that 
this  is  no  mere  chance  event,  let  the  slip  of  shingle  be  now 
removed,  and  placed  in  the  same  relation  to  the  vine  as 
before,  but  on  the  opposite  side.  "Within  twenty-four 
hours  the  vine  will  be  found  to  have  turned  from  its  former 
course  and  to  be  inclined  towards  the  side  on  which  the 
shingle  is  placed,  while  the  tendril  on  that  side  has  shown 
a  corresponding  instinct.  Then  study  the  tendril.  It  is 
most  admirably  adapted  for  its  office ;  it  is  usually  a  com- 
pound spiral,  one-half  of  it  winding  to  the  right  and  the 
other  half  of  it  to  the  left,  thus  combining  the  greatest 
strength  with  the  greatest  possible  elasticity.  As  another 
illustration  of  its  wonderful  instincts,  I  have  seen  a  squash 
vine  run  about  ten  feet  along  the  surface  of  the  ground, 
keeping  its  extremity  within  a  few  inches  of  the  surface, 
until  it  passed  under  the  projecting  limb  of  a  pear  tree, 
which  was  about  four  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  earth ; 
here  it  stretched  up  almost  vertically  towards  the  tree, 
until  it  had  almost  reached  it,  when,  not  having  suf- 
ficient stamina  to  support  it  to  a  further  effort,  it  fell 
over  towards  the  ground,  forming  an  arch.  It  imme- 
diately turned  up  with  a  second  effort  to  reach  the  tree, 
made  a  second  failure  and  formed  a  second  arch,  and  with 
still  another  failure  a  third  arch,  by  which  time  the  ex- 
tremity had  passed  out  from  under  the  tree,  whe?i  it  kept 
on  its  horizontal  growth  the  same  as  before  it  had  reached 
the  tree  !  Such  instincts  are  wonderful.  How  did  the  vine 
know  the  tree  was  above  it,  or  that  the  slip  of  shingle  was 
at  either  the  right  or  left  of  it  ? 

During  the  best  growing  weather  the  growth  of  the 
vine  is  very  rapid.    I  have  found,  by  actual  measurement, 


SQUASHES,  HOW  TO  GEOW  THEM,  ETC.        C9 

that  a  vine  of  the  mammoth  variety  grew  above  fourteen 
inches  in  twenty-four  hours.  Sometimes,  during  a  season 
of  drouth,  a  surprising  tenacity  of  life  is  displayed.  I  well 
remember  one  piece  of  vines  growing  on  a  shallow  spot 
above  a  ledge,  where,  during  a  season  of  severe  drouth,  I 
could  find  nothing  but  earth  as  dry  as  dust,  close  down  to 
the  ledge ;  yet  these  vines,  for  more  than  a  week,  would 
wilt  and  apparently  dry  up  each  day,  to  renew  themselves 
with  the  dews  over  night.  I  have  very  rarely  (and  I  have 
often  examined  them  for  this,)  found  the  tendrils  of  the 
squash  vine  seizing  on  the  Apple  of  Peru,  (Stramonium,)  a 
large  weed  quite  common  near  the  sea  shore,  of  disagree- 
able odor  and  poisonous  in  its  nature,  when  taken  inter- 
nally. Now,  the  Apple  of  Peru  is  very  common  in  our 
squash  fields,  and  presents  the  most  stable  support  of  all  the 
weeds  of  the  field.  Then  why  this  apparent  antipathy  ? 

I  have  endeavored  to  make  my  little  treatise  as  complete 
a  manual  as  possible.  If,  from  the  directions  given,  so  de- 
licious a  vegetable  as  the  squash  shall  be  more  generally 
and  more  successfully  cultivated,  I  shall  be  well  pleased. 


C  ONTENTS. 


Introduction 3 

What  is  a  Squash?... 4 

Selecting  the  Soil 5 

The  Manure 7 

How  Much  Manure  ? 9 

Preparing  and  Applying  the  Manure 12 

Preparing  the  Hills 16 

Planting  the  Seed 12 

Hill  Culture  and  Level  Culture 21 

Hoeing  and  Cultivating 21 

Squashes  with  other  Crops .24 

Setting  of  the  Fruit 25 

Pinching  Vines 29 

Ripening  and  Gathering  the  Crop 29 

A  Critical  Period.... 31 

The  Storing  of  the  Crop 33 

Cure  During  the  Winter 36 

Marketing  the  Crop 38 

Frost-bitten  Squashes 40 

Squashes  for  Stock 42 

Varieties  of  Squashes 44 

Hubbard 44 

American  Turban 46 

Autumnal  Marrow 49 

Crookneck 51 

Yokohama 52 

Para,  or  Polk 53 

Summer  Squashes 53 

Enemies  of  the  Vine 55 

Woodchucks  and  Muskrats 60 

Saving  Seed 61 

Instincts  and  Habits  of  Squash  Vines 67 


70 


THE 

SMALL    FRUIT    CULTURIST. 

BY 

ANDREW  S.  FULLER. 
Beautifully  Illustrated. 

We  have  heretofore  had  no  work  especially  devoted  to  small 
fruits,  and  certainly  no  treatises  anywhere  that  give  the  information 
contained  in  this.  It  is  to  the  advantage  of  special  works  that  the 
author  can  say  all  that  he  has  to  say  on  any  subject,  and  not  be 
restricted  as  to  space,  as  he  must  be  in  those  works  that  cover  the 
culture  of  all  fruits — great  and  small. 

This  book  covers  the  whole  ground  of  Propagating  Small  Fruity 
their  Culture,  Varieties,  Packing  for  Market,  etc.  While  very  full  on 
She  other  fruits,  the  Currants  and  Raspberries  have  been  more  care- 
fully elaborated  than  ever  before,  and  in  this  important  part  of  his 
book,  the  author  has  had  the  invaluable  counsel  of  Charles  Downing. 
The  chapter  on  gathering  and  packing  the  fruit  is  a  valuable  one, 
and  in  it  are  figured  all  the  baskets  and  boxes  now  in  common  use. 
The  book  -is  very  finely  and  thoroughly  illustrated,  and  makes  an 
admirable  companion  to  the  Grape  Culturist,  by  the  same  author. 

CONTENT  S: 

CHAP.    I.  BARBERRY.  CHAP.  VII.  GOOSEBERRY. 

CHAP.  II.  STRAWBERRY.  CHAP.  VIII.  CORNELIAN  CHBBRY. 

CHAP.  III.  RASPBERRY.  CHAP.    IX.  CRANBERRY. 

CHAP.  IV.  BLACKBERRY.  CHAP.      X.  HUCKLEBERRY. 

JHAP.   V.  DWARF  CHERRY.  CHAP.    XL  SHEPERDIA. 

CHAP.  VL  CURRANT.  CHAP.  XII.  PREPARATION     FOB 

GATHERING  FBUIT. 

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HARRIS     ON     THE    PIG. 

Breeding,  Bearing,  Management,  and  Improvement, 

WITH    NUMEROUS    ILLUSTRATIONS. 

By  JOSEPH  HARRIS,  MORETON  FABM,  ROCHESTER,  N.  Y. 

This  is  the  only  American  treatise  upon  the  breeding,  rearing,  and  manage- 
ment of  swine,  and  is  by  one  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  whole  subject.  The 
points  of  the  various  English  and  American  breeds  are  thoroughly  discussed, 
and  the  great  advantage  of  using  thorough-bred  males  clearly  shown.  The 
work  is  equally  valuable  to  the  farmer  who  keeps  but  a  few  pigs,  and  to  the 
breeder  on  an  extensive  scale. 


CHAPTER  I.—  Introductory. 

CHAPTER  II.—  Breeds  of  Pigs. 

CHAPTER  III.—  The  Form  of  a  Good  Pig. 

CHAPTER  IV.—  Desirable  Qualities  in  a  Pig. 

CHAPTER  V.—  Large  vs.  Small  Breeds  and  Crosses. 

CHAPTER  VI.—  Value  of  a  Thorough-Bred  Pig. 

CHAPTER  VII.—  Good  Pigs  need  Good  Care. 

CHAPTER  VIII.—  The  Origin  and  Improvement  of  our  Domestic  Pigs. 

CHAPTER  IX.—  Improvement  of  English  Breeds  of  Pigs. 

CHAPTER  X.—  The  Modern  Breeds  of  English  Pigs. 

CHAPTER  XI,—  Breeds  of  Pigs  in  the  United  States. 

CHAPTER  XII.—  Experiments  in  Pig  Feeding. 

CHAPTER  XIII.—  Lawes'  and  Gilbert's  Experiments  in  Pig  Feeding.  . 

CHAPTER  XIV.—  Sugar  as  Food  for  Pigs. 

CHAPTER  XV.—  The  Value  of  Pig  Manure. 

CHAPTER  XVI.—  Piggeries  and  Pig  Pens. 

CHAPTER  XVII.—  Swill  Barrels,  Pig  Troughs,  etc. 

CHAPTER  XVIII.—  Management  of  Pigs. 

CHAPTER  XIX.—  English  Experience  in  Pig  Feeding 

CHAPTER  XX.—  Live  and  Dead  Weight  of  Pigs. 

CHAPTER  XXI.—  Breeding  and  Rearing  Pigs. 

CHAPTER  XXII.—  Management  of  Thorough-bred  Pigs. 

CHAPTER  XXIII.—  Profit  of  Raising  Thorough-bred  Pigt. 

CHAPTER  XXIV.—  Cooking  Food  for  Pigs. 

CHAPTER  XXV.—  Summary. 

CHAPTER  XXVI.-Appendix, 

DPrice,    ;post-;pa/icl,    $1.5O. 

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AMERICAN    CATTLE: 

Their    History,    Breeding,   and    Management. 

By   LEWIS    F.   ALLEN, 

Late  President    New-York  State  Agricultural  Society,  Editor  "American 
Short-Horn  Herd  Book,1'  Author  -  Rural  Architecture,"  etc.,  etc. 


Notices  by  the  Press. 

WE  consider  this  the  most  valuable  work  that  has  recently  been  issued 
from  the  American  press.  It  embraces  all  branches  of  the  important  subject, 
and  fills  a  vacancy  in  our  agricultural  literature  for  which  work  the  author,  by 
his  many  years1  experience  and  observation,  was  eminently  fitted.  ...  It 
ou"-ht  to  be  in  the  hands  of  every  owner  of  cattle,  and  the  country,  as  well  as 
individuals,  would  soon  be  much  richer  for  its  teachings.— Journal  of  Agri- 
culture, (St.  Louis.) 

The  large  experience  of  the  author  in  improving  the  character  of  Ameri- 
can herds  adds  to  the  weight  of  his  observations,  and  has  enabled  him  to  pro- 
duce a  work  which  will  at  once  make  good  its  claims  as  a  standard  authority 
on  the  subject.  An  excellent  feature  of  this  volume  is  its  orderly,  methodical 
rrangoment,  condensing  a  great  variety  of  information  into  a  comparatively 
mall  compass,  and  enabling  the  reader  to  find  the  point  on  which  he  is  seek- 
ing light,  without  wasting  his  time  in  turning  over  the  leaves. — N.  Y.  Tribune. 

This  will  rank  among  the  standard  works  of  the  country,  and  will  be  con-, 
eidered  indispensable  by  every  breeder  of  live-stock.— Practical  Farmer, (PJitta.) 

We  think  it  is  the  most  complete  work  upon  neat  stock  that  we  have 
seen,  embodying  as  it  does  a  vast  amount  of  research  and  careful  study  and 
observation. —  Wisconsin  Farmer. 

His  history  of  cattle  in  general,  and  of  the  individual  breeds  in  particular 
which  occupies  the  first  one  hundred  and  eighty  pages  of  the  volume,  is  writ- 
ten with  much  of  the  grace  and  charm  of  an  Allison  or  a  Macaulay.  His  de^ 
scription  of  the  leading  breeds  is  illustrated  by  cuts  of  a  bull,  a  cow,  and  a 
fat  ox,  of  each  race.  The  next  one  hundred  pages  are  devoted  to  the  sub- 
ject of  Breeding.  This  is  followed  by  chapters  on  Beef  Cattle,  Working  Oxen, 
Milch  Cows,  Cattle  Food,  Diseases,  etc.  The  arrangement,  illustrations,  an- 
alytical index,  etc.,  of  the  work  are  in  the  best  style  of  modern  book-mak- 
ing.— New-England  Farmer. 

The  work  is  one  that  has  been  long  needed,  as  it  takes  the  place  of  the 
foreign  books  of  like  nature  to  which  our  farmers  have  been  obliged  to  refer, 
and  furnishes  in  a  compact  and  well-arranged  volume  all  they  desire  upon  this* 
important  subject.— Maine  Farmer. 

Whatever  works  the  stock-farmer  may  already  have,  he  can  not  afford  to 
do  without  this.— Ohio  Farmer. 

It  is  one  of  the  best  treatises  within  our  knowledge,  and  contains  infor- 
mation sound  and  sensible  on  every  page.—  The  People,  (Concord,  N.  H.) 

The  object  of  the  work,  as  stated  by  the  author  in  his  preface.  "  is  not  only 
to  give  a  historical  acccount  of  the  Bovine  race,  to  suggest  to  our  farmers  and 
cattle-breeders  the  best  methods  of  their  production  and  management,  but  to 
exalt  and  ennoble  its  pursuit  to  the  dignity  to  which  it  is  entitled  in  the  vari- 
ous departments  of  American  agriculture.'"  From  the  little  examination  we 
have  been  able  to  give  it,  we  can  not  recommend  it  too  highly.— Canada 
Farmer. 

Considering  that  there  are  some  ten  million  milch  cows  in  the  United 
States,  and  nearly  a  thousand  million  of  dollars  invested  in  cattle,  the  magni. 
tnde  of  this  interest  demands  that  the  best  skilled  talent  be  devoted  to  the 
improvement  of  the  various  breeds  and  the  investigation  of  the  best  method 
ot  so  caring  for  the  animals  as  to  gain  the  greatest  profit  from  them.  This 
volume  will  give  the  farmer  just  toe  instruction  which  he  wants.— N.  T.  Inde- 
pendent. 

,      Price,  post-paid,  $2.50. 

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245  Broadway,  New- York. 


NEW  AMERICAN  FARM  BOOK. 

ORIGINALLY  BY 

Ti.     L.    A.  L  LIE  IN, 

AUTHOR  OF    "  DISEASES   OF   DOMESTIC   ANIMALS,"    AND   FORMERLY  3DITOR   Or 

THE  "AMERICAN  AGRICULTURIST." 
REVISED  AND  ENLARGED  BY 


LEWIS 


.    ALL  E  IV  , 


AUTHOR  OF    "AMERICAN    CATTLE,"    EDITOR   OF   THE    "AMERICAN   SHORT-HOKN 
HERD   BOOK,"    ETC. 

C  O  1ST  T  TL  JST  rJ?  S  : 


INTRODUCTION.  —  Tillage  Husbandry 
— Grazing  —  Feeding  —  Breeding  — 
Planting,  etc. 

CHAPTER  I.— Soils  —  Classification- 
Description  —  Management  —  Pro- 
perties. 

CHAPTER  II. — Inorganic  Manures — 
Mineral  —  Stone  —  Earth  —  Phos- 
phatic. 

CHAPTER  III. —  Organic  Manures  — 
Their  Composition  — Animal- -Ve- 
getable. 

CHAPTER  IV. — Irrigation  and  Drain- 
ing. 

CHAPTER  V. — Mechanical  Divisions 
of  Soils  —  Spading  —  Plowing— Im- 
plements. 

CHAPTER  VI. — The  Grasses — Clovers 
—  Meadows  —  Pastures  —  Compara- 
tive Values  of  Grasses— Implements 
for  t  K'ir  Cultivation. 

CHAPTER  VII.— Grain,  and  its  Culti- 
vation —  Varieties  —  Growth — Har- 
vesting. 

CHAPTER  VIII. — Leguminous  Plants 
—The  Pea— Beau  —  English  Field 
Bean — Tare  or  Vetch— Cultivation 
— Harvesting. 

CHAPTER  IX.— Roots  and  Esculents — 
Varieties— Growth  —  Cultivation  — 
Securing  tiie  Crops— Uses— Nutri- 
tive Equivalents  ot  Different  Kinds 
of  Forage. 

CHAPTER  X. — Fruits — Apples — Cider 
—Vinegar— Pears— Quinces— Plums 
Peaches  —  Apricots  —  Nectarines  — 
Smaller  Frait3— Planting— Cultiva- 
tion— Gathering— Preserving. 

CHAPTER  XI.— Miscellaneous  Objects 
of  Cultivation,  aside  from  the  Or- 
dinary Farm  Crops— Broom-corn— 
Flax— Cotton— Hemp— Sugar  Cane 
Sorghum— Maple  Sugar  —Tobacco- 
Indigo— Madder-Wood— Sumach- 
Teasel  —  Mustard  —  Hops  —  Castor 
Bean. 

CHAPTER  XII.— Aids  and  Objects  of 
Agriculture  —  Rotation  of  Crops, 
and  tbeir  Effects— Weeds— Restora- 


tion of  Worn-out  Soils— Fertilizing 
Barren  Lands— Utility  of  Birds— 
Fences  —  Hedges  —  Farm  Roads — 
Shade  Trees— Wood  Lands— Time 
of  Cutting  Timber  — Tools— Agri- 
cultural Education  of  the  Farmer. 

CHAPTER  XIII. — Farm  Buildings — 
House  —  Barn — Sheds  —  Cisterns  — 
Various  other  Outbuildings— Steam- 
ing Apparatus. 

CHAPTER  XIV. — Domestic  Animals 
— Breeding — Anatomy— Respiration 
— Consumption  of  Food. 

CHAPTER  XV.— Neat  or  Horned  Cattle 
Devons  —  Here  fords — Ayreshires  — 
Galloways  —  Short -horns  —  Alder- 
neys  or  Jerseys— Dutch  or  Holstein 
—Management  from  Birth  to  Milk- 
ing, Labor,  or  Slaughter. 

CHAPTER  XVI.— The  Dairy-  Milk- 
Butter—  Cheese— Different  Kinds- 
Manner  of  Working. 

CHAPTER  XVII.  —  Sheep  —  Merino — 
Saxon — South  Down  —  The  Long- 
wooled  Breeds — Cotswold— Lincoln 
—  Breeding  —  Management  —  Shep- 
herd Dogs. 

CHAPTER  XVIII.  —  The  Horse— De- 
scription of  Different  Breeds— Their 
Various  Uses— Breeding— Manage- 
ment. 

CHAPTER  XIX. —The  ABB— Mule  — 
Comparative  Labor  of  Working 
Animals. 

CHAPTER  XX.  —  Swine  —  Different 
Breeds  —  Breeding — Rearing  —  Fat- 
tening—Curing Pork  and  Hams. 

CHAPTER  XXI.  —  Poultry — Hens,  or 
Barn-door  Fowls  —  Turkey  —  Pea- 
cock—Guinea Hen— Goose  — Duck 
—Honey  Bees. 

CHAPTER  XXII.  —  Diseases  of  Ani- 
mals—What Authority  Shall  We 
Adopt  ?  —  Sheep  —  Swine  —  Treat- 
ment and  Breeding  of  Horses. 

CHAPTER  XXIII.  —Conclusion— Gene- 
ral Remarks  —  The  Farmer  who 
Lives  by  his  Occupation— The  Ama- 
teur Farmer — Sundry  Useful  Tables. 


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